


Spring’s Universe

by Kittyinkypaws



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Forced Fusion, Gem/Human Hybrids (Steven Universe), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 20,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23464753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittyinkypaws/pseuds/Kittyinkypaws
Summary: Steven Universe is finally on the road, ready to explore the world around him. At his very first stop he mets a young girl who is unusually interested in gems (and Lion). What happens when she goes missing? Are the gems somehow involved? In completely unrelated news a new off-colour gem just joined little Homeworld! There may be more secrets about her than even she knows.This fic focuses on my own Gem Hybrid, Spring, set after Steven leaves for the road!
Comments: 34
Kudos: 36





	1. Steven leaves.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first ever fan fiction (better late than never I guess...), so I’m sorry if I haven’t got any characters quite down. I’d love any suggestions/criticism. I just had to write SOMETHING because I wanted to know what happened next in the series. Also my paragraph skills are questionable. Sorry! Hope you enjoy!

The icy breeze blew through the open window of Steven’s car, cooling his hot emotional face. He couldn’t help but smile as he passed the sign: ‘now leaving Beach City’ with an additional scrawled ‘and Little Homeworld’ in gem. At least he thought that was what it said. It was kind hard to read while driving (especially as it was in a foreign language he barely understood).

Still, he was smiling broadly as he passed the sign. Sure, he had tears dripping down his face and snot dripping from his nose as he struggled to see enough to keep the car steady, but he had this sense of relief and freedom too. All his problems and trauma could be left behind in beach city. Who knew where he would end up after visiting all the places he had planned? Maybe he’d end up living near another beach, or in the dessert. Perhaps he’d venture into space? Probably not though. Maybe he’d even end up living with Connie eventually? Maybe he’d just live on the road. He could visit the gems whenever but also move about when he wanted. Maybe he would live in beach city after all? He wasn’t sure.

Wow.

Just a few months ago he dreaded the feeling of not knowing what to do. Not having someone to help, or a goal. Now he just embraced it. Well he still had a goal, kinda. He was gonna visit all the places on his map, that was kind of a goal, right?

Steven had also missed freedom a bit. The gems had tried not to smother him but they had been rather protective since his ~~corruption~~ meltdown. Even Jasper had tried to protect him! Though he wasn’t sure if that was a ‘friend’ thing or a ‘diamond’ thing. Whatever made Jasper happy, Steven was fine with (accept maybe the breaking walls instead of using doors. Perhaps that should have been addressed before he left...). If he wasn’t he knew he could voice his feelings. Or at least he was learning to. Sometimes it was tricky. Sometimes the thoughts stuck in his brain and mingled with others “why would they need your opinion Steven? Why would they care how you feel?” Slowly though, such voices were beginning to fade-away. He was getting better. Slowly but surely. It wasn’t a linear recovery either, but he was feeling positive, for now at least.

It wasn’t long before he found himself at his first stop, only a few hours away. The bed and breakfast place was nice, he had a comfy little room with ocean blue sheets and large windows that offered a nice view of the city he was in. Time to text Connie.

**Steven : Just arrived c u tomorrow 🙃**

**Connie : Don’t you dare breakfast without me Steven Universe! Or I’ll set my Lion on you!**

**Steven : I wont ** **I promise night connie❤️**

**...**

**Steven : wait YOUR lion? he is mine connie maheswaran!!!!**

**Connie : _Goodnight_ Steven!**

As he lay in his bed that night Steven couldn’t help but sigh with relief. For now he was just good old Steven Universe, the human. To be honest he was kind of done with gem stuff for awhile. 

Or so he thought.


	2. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie have breakfast while Lion makes a friend!

The bed and breakfast Steven was staying at had a rather large dining room, with enough room for Lion to crouch next to Connie lazily. The other guests had been more than a little scared to see a great big pink lion appear in the quiet dining room (Connie and Lion may or may not have accidentally landed on a table in someone’s breakfast, knocking over a hot tea. Thankfully the man at the table wasn’t badly burnt and therefore was highly unlikely to sue) so they waited until everyone was gone to eat breakfast, which suited them just fine anyways.

“Are you sure we should have Lion in here?” Steven nervously asked in a whisper, even though they were alone. Sometimes he got a little nervous making the assumption that he was doing ‘human things’ wrong. Connie, the once shy bookworm rule-follower, just giggled.

“They let in emotional support dogs! He can be your emotional support _cat_.”

“Ummmm... h-hi. W-what would you like for breakfast?” A slight girl, probably around 12 or 11, tentatively asked, interrupting their giggles. She had a large smile on her face, though she was clearly scared... or awestruck by Lion. “He’s pink.” She breathed happily, distracted from breakfast orders for the moment.

“Been there before.” Muttered Steven, only slightly bitterly.

“Well you’re blue!” It was true, her hair was a light blue, almost a mint green but not quite. It had loose strands of pink also running through it. The blue locks were long and curled randomly and messily, while somehow still looking tidy. Almost like a floating cloud of hair, a kind of longer version of Pink Diamond’s hair. She wore a pink, long sleeved shirt with a love heart and had a deep blue zip up jumper around her waist, where she wore pink scruffy shorts. All of her clothes were a bit ‘well loved’. Obviously she adored pink. She also had several bracelets around her wrists, visible atop of her sleeves; a pink water droplet shaped one, a few pink and silver bangles, a blue rubber one and a fuchsia chain. She giggled.

“Can I pet him?” Steven nodded happily. Most people would be too afraid to ask. After a minute of carefully edging close to him she practically fell into the fluffy mane as lion rubbed against her like a cat. “Either he likes me or he really wants breakfast! I’ve always wanted a cat! A lion’s even cooler!” She handed Steven and Connie the menus and continued fussing over Lion, offering to cook some bacon for him. 

“Do you have any lizards for him?” Connie asked, half joking. She was a little shocked that this random girl was so openly and easily acceptant of Lion. Steven didn’t seem to think about it at all, after all the people he lived around were used to Lions, spaceships, aliens, an entire city being built on the side...

In the end Steven choose to have toast and orange juice (he still didn’t like meat, only having eaten one fish-and that was when he wasn’t in his right mind-since he turned vegetarian) and Connie choose bacon and eggs along with fruit. “Five a day!” She reminded Steven. The girl returned with their food and Steven offered to let her stay and pet Lion as she was done serving breakfast.

As soon as he suggested it, though, her face froze and transformed into something completely different from the beaming face Steven and Connie had seen before. If Steven didn’t know any better he’d say that she looked almost scared.

“N-no! Thanks! I have to get back to the kitchen and d-do the washing up! My aunt reminded me I need to...”

“Nonsense! If you want we can help you when we are done. He’s friendly, if you are worried about Lion!”

“N-n-no that’s not... you can’t... it’s fi-“ she began but Connie cut her off.

“Why don’t you just stay for a minute, Lion really likes you for some reason!” Steven smiled. Connie always had his back. He’d found recently that the words ‘I’m fine’ or ‘it’s fine’ sometimes sent him into a little bit of a panic, bringing memories he wasn’t ready to face just yet to the surface. So it was sweet when she helped him avoid that, though she’d warned him he’d have to talk about it sometime. Steven had talked enough about it for now though. He’d talked and talked and talked. That was all he’d done until he left!

Lion showed his unusual affections by practically falling on top of the girl, staring at her with... kitten eyes? Was that a thing?

“Wow! He really likes you, huh?” 

“Mmm... I love animals. I get it from my Mom... I think! Did you get this Lion from your parents?”

“I... guess you could say that?” Steven answered carefully. He didn’t really want to explain his life story to a random girl in a bed and breakfast. This was his time to forget about his past.

“Why’s he pink? I love it! It’s not dye, is it?! Does he mind being in captivity? He doesn’t have a leash or collar!”

“Nope, he just goes where he wants really!” Connie answered happily. 

“And he always chooses you.” Steven feigned annoyance.

“Because I’m _clearly_ the best owner!”

“No way! I was his boy first, before you were his... I mean _he_ was mine.” (Though clearly they all knew that Lion owned them, not the other way around).

“Doesn’t mean I’m not the best! Lion, who’s your favourite?” Connie urged. Lion ignored her.

“I think it’s me!” The girl giggled. Steven sighed. She was so sweet and talkative, a lot like himself when he was younger, Steven felt. Hopefully she wouldn’t have a similar life though...

“SPRING! Get in here NOW! Stars, you are so SLOW! Are you trying to mess everything up AGAIN?!” An angry voice sounded. The girl, Spring apparently, jumped up and smiled apologetically. Then she ran off to the kitchen like a startled little rabbit.

Steven looked shocked. “Was that her parent or something? Why were they shouting at her? She wasn’t doing anything wrong!” Connie sighed. Steven had yet to experience parents who... were less than caring for their children. And while it was terrible to be shouted at the girl wasn’t hurt and therefore was technically fine, right?

“Steven...” she said pulling his face away from the door. His cheeks were tinted slightly pink. He had gotten much better but it would take awhile to be control such power entirely. If he didn’t have corruption scars there had to be something to remind him, she guessed. “It’s ok. Unfortunately some parents are like that. Take a deep breath. How would you feel if your child was sitting next to a giant pink cat?”

“Glad that she’d made friends!” Steven giggled, pink gone. “Still... if that keeps happening I think I’ll have to try and talk to them...”

“Steven. Humans are different, remember? They might think you are butting into their business. So long as she’s not being hurt it’s fine.” Connie sounded calm but to be honest she felt angry at the tone of Spring’s parents.

And when she came back Spring was much more subdued and didn’t talk, ignoring Lion who tried to get another pet from her.

“Sorry we got you in trouble!” Steven couldn’t help but apologise.

“No. It was my fault.” Spring’s voice was flat, and her usual resting smile was gone. She looked miles away. 

“You ok?” Connie pulled her close by the shoulders so that the girl had to look Connie in the eyes. Connie was surprised that one eye was blue, deep like Lapis’s and the other was pink kinda like Diamond Steven (... sorry, too soon?). 

“Yes! Sorry!” Suddenly she was smiling again, happily taking plates and slipping Lion bacon before leaving. 

“Must’ve been in her own little world.”

“Like the world in Lion’s mane?” Steven joked, happy to see that she was OK.

Spring was not OK. But she would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I’m enjoying writing this. I already wrote the first few chapters so that’s why I’m posting them kind of all at once.   
> 🙃


	3. The beginnings of an idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven spends his last day at the ‘Ocean Blue Bed and Breakfast’. He may or may not have accidentally given Spring an idea. Whether it’s a good or bad idea is up for debate.

A loud yawn escaped Steven’s mouth as he headed to breakfast. His couple of days in this city was almost over and Steven was ready to eat breakfast, sign out and then go. Sightseeing had been quite fun but he was ready to move on. As usual Spring offered him breakfast, lingering to ask him questions about Lion. She was very sweet, a little sister almost, a sort of younger version of his and Amethyst’s personalities mixed. She always giggled at Steven’s puns, and in response he pulled out a few of his old cat ones because she loved Lion so much.

Eventually though the conversation drifted onto other things.

“So you lived with shapeshifting ALIENS!?” She asked in awe. Steven hadn't meant to tell her, not really, but how do you explain a pink lion’s origins without telling about the alien that turned him pink? Pink, and possibly immortal. 

“Yep. They’ve all got gemstones, like this.” Steven lifted his shirt accordingly. Spring displayed a look of shock and horror mixed into one and staggered back slightly. Many did the same though and Steven didn’t blame her, though he couldn’t help but wince slightly. ( _She didn’t think he was a monster, she didn’t think he was a monster, she didn’t think he was a monster, it was ok.... Take a deep breath..._ ). “I’m half human, half gem. My Mom created Lion. Well, made him pink. With her powers. We can shape shift, fuse, we have weapons...” Steven took a breath. Why didn’t he stop talking now? But Spring retained that look of shocked horror and Steven knew he had to continue. “Don’t worry! They are friendly. Now. They all live in beach city!” 

“Beach city...”

“The ones that want to anyway.”

“Thanks Steven!” She sounded so awestruck and had that far away look again. Perhaps telling random humans that aliens with weapons and powers lived a few hours from their homes without their knowledge was a bad idea. Perhaps.

“Well... it was nice to meet you Spring! I’m leaving today but I really enjoyed seeing you.”

“You too Steven. You too. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” Looking back the way she said it was just _so_ ominous. 

...

Unfortunately Steven didn’t realise that until 3 days later when he heard her description with a missing announcement on the radio. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be longer, I promise! Hope that you enjoyed reading this. I’m really enjoying writing it!


	4. The runaway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring has runaway. Steven blames himself, but Spring is happier than she’s ever been!

**“In other news, If you have any information regarding the missing child ‘Spring Thomas-Ocean’ please contact the police immediately. The child was last seen 3 days ago at ‘The Ocean-Blue Bed and Breakfast’. It is believed that she was wearing a pink and white dress. Spring has bright blue hair with streaks and is 12 years old. If you have any information regarding her whereabouts please contact the police.”**

Steven didn’t have to reach over and switch off the radio. It seemed his powers wanted to do so for him. His powers had petered out for a little while after he used all his energy to... have a breakdown? So it was comfort and a bother when it decided to show again sometimes.

Suddenly Steven felt his phone buzz gently on the seat next to him. Reluctantly the hybrid parked and reached over. He was too worried to drive anyway.

“Steven! I’m glad you picked up! That girl on the news? Is that the same girl from that bed and breakfast?” Connie practically shouted. Steven could tell she was panicking. Not a lot panicked Connie these days. She’d even kept a level head during his... meltdown. Steven held the phone away from his ear, not wanting to damage them. Connie appeared to be talking directly into the microphone...

“Y-yeah. It’s... crazy. I hope she’s ok. I was thinking of heading back to help look for her?” 

“No, Steven, the police will handle it! I just hope she’s ok.”

“It’s my fault!” The words burst out of him, surprising Steven as much as his girlfriend. He hadn’t even realised that he was thinking that. Weren’t such thoughts the ones that got him corrupted in the first place? Steven mentally slapped himself. Why’d he say that out loud anyway?

“What?”

“I... I think she ran away? She was asking questions about beach city and she said I’d ‘given her a lot to think about’?!?” Was breathing always this hard? Steven kept thinking of Lapis flying away, only forced to come back as a prisoner and then end up in a forced fusion with Jasper. Oh dear, had that all been his fault too? Lapis still had never fused again, as far as Steven knew. Had he closed that wonderful opportunity for her? Was he spiralling again?

“Take deep breaths Steven. It’s ok. You don’t need to blame yourself. It’s not your fault. Kids run away all the time. Remember when we wanted to go to that apple farm? She’ll be found in a few days, I’m sure!” Steven followed her advice. Deep breaths. This wasn’t his fault... it was ok.... Deep breaths...

But was it really? Was _she_ really?

...

Spring was more than OK. She was overjoyed, ecstatic, even. Sure, she was ‘missing’, but no one would actually _miss_ her. Miss yelling at her? Miss having a little dish washer and waitress? Yes and yes. But miss _her?_

She had so much to see. Spring had never left her home town before. She’d never been to school and was rarely left alone if they weren’t... fused.

It was easy to take the little amount of tips she had kept out of Aunt Amber’s reach and get on a bus. Steven had actually given her a large portion of it, though she’d tried to decline it. Apparently he had ‘plenty of money’ and wanted to share it. 

She knew that she wouldn’t be recognised as missing for awhile, if ever, but Spring made sure to wear a big blue hoodie and a beanie hat that hid her tell-tale hair from view. The hat was light purple with cat ears, she’d found it at a market second hand stall and purchased it awhile ago.

Why hadn’t Spring done this before? 

Because she had no where to go?

Because she had no one to go to?

Because she thought that they were the only ones on earth? 

Because the thought never occurred to her?

All of the above?

The bus would only take her about half way but Spring figured she could walk the rest. And in the meantime figure out how to shape-shift. She was sure Amber had told her that her Mom could. Though maybe not. Spring hoped so. They changed shape in Sunset, so why not on her own?

The bumpy road slid under the bus like it was nothing, allowing Spring to be lulled into that serene stage in between awake and asleep. Her seat was far from comfortable, plus it smelled rather musty but her own bed wasn’t much better. Spring wasn’t one to judge anyway. She couldn't help but be excited. 

Freedom! She was completely free! Just like that! All she had to do was ‘accidentally’ drop a glass and then be made to take the shards out back. Then all she had to do was run. She’d worn her backpack with her other outfit inside to make herself less recognisable. She kept her bracelet though. 

Spring fiddled with the thin metal wire. It was so cleverly shaped. Strong enough to hold its shape and press against the teardrop shaped gem on her wrist, enough that it didn’t scratch it BUT tight enough that it looked like a bracelet. 

It was lovely, really. Though she’d have to take it off when she was pretending to be a gem, as she didn’t need to pretend that her gem was just a human bracelet anymore.

Spring couldn’t wait to see beach city!

The beach! Ohh! Spring had never been to the beach before! Her mother had loved it, allegedly. She only had Amber’s word for it. Her mother loved water, she knew that much for sure. Her powers were water based, after all. 

Spring had always been told of her mother’s greatness, her beauty, her power. She knew she couldn’t ever live up to it. Useless. Why was she so useless! She wasted her mother’s gem...

Now, though, she could live among other gems, learn to use her powers and be useful! Yay! 

And with such those comforting thoughts Spring finally drifted off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone have any information regarding Spring? Please inform me immediately...
> 
> 🙃 Hope you enjoyed, have a nice day and stay safe!


	5. Meet Amber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a little look into Spring’s caregiver’s perspective. We get some answers. And Amber gets pretty annoyed that Spring has wandered off...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Warning: I do mention forced fusion (like Malachite) in this chapter. If you are not happy with this topic (sorry Lapis) then you don’t have to read this.

“That little **brat**.” Amber stomped her foot angrily, almost summoning her weapon in anger. She had light, peachy orange skin, almost human in colour (perhaps a human with an obviously fake spray tan), and deep orange hair. She was built clearly as a guard, or a soldier. Amber had adopted almost human clothes with her form, black jeans, a red shirt and big boots. This way she could talk inconspicuously to the humans at Ocean’s bed and breakfast. Her almost clear orange gem rested on the back of her hand, the left, opposite to Ocean’s gem, which was currently on the wrist of that worthless human right hand. It wasn’t even made of light! 

If it weren’t for that idiot human that Ocean had fallen in love with then Amber would be here _with_ Ocean. They could be decorating, cooking or going on beachside holidays, instead of trudging through the years trying to balance the work of the business single handed along with being caregiver for that rotten little human child. And it was also the little brat’s fault that Ocean was gone. If not for that thing Ocean and Jasper would have stayed Sunset-Lazuli forever! 

And now it was missing! She never should have let her out of the fusion. Ohh even with _that child_ fusing with the pink off-colour Lazuli was magical. She had so much power! It felt lovely! Even if she had to fight for it. She had always been taught that fusion was bad on homeworld, reserved for comman little Rubies who couldn’t fight on their own. She had discovered on earth that with fusion came more power, more strength, everything a soldier like her wanted.

Homeworld may have deemed the Pink Lapis Lazuli a ‘hideous off colour’ to be experimented on and then shattered, especially after Pink Diamond went missing, but she was much better that a normal Lapis Lazuli. At least Amber thought so. She’d accidentally escaped with Ocean, as she’d been dubbed, but Ocean had fallen helplessly in love with the earth. She’d fallen in love with the plants, the birds, the strange little human creatures, with rain, the way her powers interacted with the life, the _everything_! Amber, however, had fallen in love with fusing with Ocean.

It wasn’t for ‘friendship’ or ‘love’, Amber knew deep down that the main reason she spent time with Ocean was her power. Ocean had never caught on, apparently, accepting the fusion as love for the earth and/or for each other. She was pretty sure that Spring had though... if constant fusing hadn't been a hint who knew what was?

Amber still remembered the awkward conversation with the human law enforcement human male that morning.

“So you last saw her 3 days ago. Why didn’t you contact us sooner?”

“Ugh... I thought she was at a friends.” If she _had_ friends it would be believable. Amber made sure she didn’t make friends. She was a very ‘sweet’ young child by human standards (Amber didn’t really see it), so it shouldn’t have been too hard but Amber was rather intimidating, especially to little humans. Even this human law enforcement person (they really should come up with a better name for that) seemed a little scared of her.

“Ok. Can you remember what she was wearing?”

“Um.” She had 2 outfits right? The blue jumper and pink top and the pink and white dress. So Amber took a wild guess. She had at least a 50% chance of getting it right, right? “She was wearing a dress. Pink and white. Oh and she has bright blue hair with pink streaks!”

“O....k? _Kids and their fashion_... Madam, has anything happened to make her run away? Did you have an argument?” 

“No.” Not exactly a lie. Spring was too frightened to argue with her.

“When did she last eat? Is she healthy?” Good question. Amber noticed she always stole some of the breakfast bits and Amber provided dinner but other than that nothing. Ocean didn’t need to eat. Why should she have to feed her daughter? “That morning, for breakfast.” 

“Any other things we should be aware of? People she could go to? Reasons to run away?”

“No, we are... foreign, originally. So she doesn’t have any family here.” The fact that they’d lived in this town for hundreds upon hundreds of years wasn’t mentioned.

“Thank you so much. Please information us immediately if you have any news on her whereabouts. We will do the same.”

That had been the day Spring was on the news for the first time.


	6. Little Homeworld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring finally enters Little Homeworld and is happy to be welcomed with open arms. There she meets another Lapis, a stoic fusion and a friendly purple gem.

As soon as Spring entered little Homeschool through the front entrance she was greeted with a happy:

“Welcome to little Homeschool! Nice to meet you! Have you just come from space?” Spring smiled. It was kind of hard to concentrate and keep her ‘gem shape shifting’. 

She had watched intently for a few days until she found a gem that seemed to suit her. Supposedly she had water powers, maybe, and this gem did. It was a deep blue gem that was called ‘Lapis Lazuli’. The gem on her was the same shape as Spring’s mom’s gem, kinda like a raindrop shape. Apparently all gems that looked the same shared their names too, so Spring introduced herself as such. She couldn’t help but wonder though.... Were they related in some way? Did aliens even work that way? If they didn’t why would they have the same name?

“Nice to meet you too! I’m Spri-super excited to be here! I got that video and wanted to visit. My name is Lapis Lazuli.” She’s heard gems talk of a video that Steven made inviting gems to Little Homeschool.

The gem, small and purple looked her up and down. 

“So, You an off colour?” Amber had used that expression before right? To describe her mother?

“Um. Yes... is that a problem? Because I can go?” She did have rather human coloured skin, a pink gem rather than a blue one and her hair was like her mother’s, a lot lighter than the other lapis. Plus it was way longer, though she’d pulled it in a lose ponytail like the Lapis she had copied.

“No! Any gem is welcome here in little Howeworld! I’m Amethyst! Yo! Garnet! A new gem just arrived!”

“Oh hello there.” Garnet didn’t sound at all surprised to see her. “Welcome to little Homeschool.” Spring froze, her trademark smile twitching for a second. Was that a... fusion? She felt so sorry for the gem trapped inside. “A pink Lapis? That is a beautiful gem. Amazingly unusual.” Spring blushed. No one had ever commented on her gem before, let alone complimented it and this ‘Garnet’ sounded so sincere.

“Hiya!” At least she didn’t sound too sad with her greeting, though she felt a bit quiet and daunted by the fusion’s size, presence and glasses that covered her eyes.

“Hey let me take you to meet our Lapis! Then we can set you up with a room! There are only a couple of forms to fill out!” Shapeshifting was tiring but Spring perked up at the prospect of another Lapis. Would she teach her to use her powers? Was this the one she saw and copied her form? Hopefully it wasn’t obvious, Spring had kept her hair so it was the same, as was her face, but she was a bit taller and just overall had taken on the build of the Lapis. It wasn’t too different from her natural shape, just a bit larger and more filled out, even though the Lapis wasn’t that big anyway. She was quite a bit shorter than them.

The Lapis Lazuli was a deep blue, with loose trousers and short hair. Unlike the one Spring had copied she didn’t have freckles. She was in a room filled with odd pieces of art scattered about, likely a classroom for little Homeschool. She was sitting in front of an easel with a large pack of pens and pencils. There was a thin delicate paintbrush in her hands, a tray of watercolours just underneath (no water though?) but she wasn’t moving. She almost looked frozen in time, not blinking, nor breathing. Did gems even need to breath then? That could be a problem...

“Lapis! Hey! Look who just arrived!”

“Oh hello.” She made no movement still, not even looking up. She seemed hyper focused on whatever she was doing there.

“Where’s Peridot?”

“Pretending to be Steven. I think she took the whole ‘be the Steven you want to see in the world’ a little too literally.” Finally Lapis tore her eyes from the paper and then smiled brightly. “A Pink Lapis? How unusual! You’ll have to show me your powers later.” Wings suddenly flew out of her back and... they were made of _water_ , glittering as if they had also been thrown out of her gem and then been frozen before gravity could take its toll, with little drops sparkling here and there. They fluttered and the Lapis smiled.

“Wow!” Spring was astounded. Had she seen the other gems do that? Could _she_ do that?

“Do you not have wings?”

“I-I don’t know? I’d love to try though! What are you painting?”

“Steven.” Fresh tears dropped down her face and she started bawling loudly and almost comically. Amethyst wiped her eyes. “I’m making...” sniff “a watercolour painting of him with my tears...”

“Don’t get me going too...”

“Oh! I’ve met Steven.”

“You have?!” Oops. 

“I mean, his video. The one that told me to come here. Yeah...” Spring was glad she’d taken a notice of that. She’d seen that little message to the universe (on loop) while she was ~~spying on them~~ waiting to go in.

“Oh.” Lapis started painting all of a sudden, using her tears to do the watercolour. She made every stroke deliberately and carefully, not wanting to make a mistake. At one point she just levitated the water with her mind, as Spring had seen the other one do, yet it still amazed her. Spring decided that she liked Lapis. “Would you teach me how to use my powers when you are done?”

“Of course! Though usually gems know how to use their powers?”

“Off colour!” Spring answered quickly. Sensing that the conversation was over Amethyst lead Spring into a small building. There was a staircase and several different rooms. 

“You can live here! If you want! The gems that lived here recently graduated. You have a good view of the ocean from that window and a good view of Little Homeworld from that window! Pretty cool right!” Spring took a good look at the room.

The room was small but still much larger than it seemed from the outside. It was very open, with a wooden floor and polished walls made with an unidentifiable pale purple material. In the corner was a little TV, with a comfy looking human brown sofa bed. There was a kitchen squashed into one corner, also purple but slightly darker. It had cupboards along with a small grey fridge, oven and sink. It wasn’t very large for a whole house, perhaps the size of a large bedroom. There was a small door off to the side, likely a bathroom, a glass door to a balcony and some empty space and drawers for Spring to put her own things. The only things she had were the clothes on her back and her leftover $3. She’d managed to spread out the remainders from her bus fare to buy a little food but that was all that was left.

“You like human things, right? You have a very human form!” Spring looked down. She did look very ‘human’ in colouring (minus the hair) and clothing, though with her new height her shorts looked even shorter and her top looked like a crop top. Though she’d always been apprehensive toward such fashions she really liked it, enjoying the breeze against her stomach and her gem on her wrist, as the sleeves were too small to cover it, so she’d rolled them up instead.

“Yes. I’ve lived on earth for awhile.”

“Do you like eating then?!” Amethyst practically jumped up and down with excitement. “The only person who will eat with me at the moment is Greg, and he’s boring! He never wants to try something exciting! Some of the gems here eat, we have a cooking class! Do you wanna join it?”

“I love eating, actually. Can I join the cooking class?” 

“Yes!!!! There’s shops in town that’ll give free food to gems who want to try it too, if you get hungry. They Never give any to me though! Anyway, I’ve got a class! If you go find Pearl or Garnet then they can help with your schedules, they are kind of the new headmasters? Just ask around, you’ll find them. Just don’t mention that human, Steven, to Pearl. She’ll start crying like a baby!” Spring didn’t remind her that Amethyst had just recently been tearful over Steven but instead adopted her normal happy personality. 

“Can’t wait! Thanks! I’ll go look for them!” As soon as Amethyst shut the door though Spring flopped down in exhaustion, becoming her natural human form again. And even though she was super tired already she wanted to squeal with unrefined joy.

Spring was a gem!

Spring was going to make lots of friends!

Spring had her own house! (That would be an adventure on it’s own, Spring had always lived with someone before)

Yes! This was gonna be perfect! And no one would know who she really was, if she had it her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random thought of the day: I really like cats.


	7. Phone call for Pearl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick phone call for Pearl. Sorry it’s short, but I’m posting a few in one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna post a couple of chapters at once, I originally wrote them together but I think they go better separately... hope you enjoy!

Pearl, as she sat in Bismuth’s shop class waiting for the next group of students, suddenly felt a small vibration come from her gem. Her phone? Pearl quickly summoned it, peered at the caller I.D. and freaked out. 

Steven! Why was he calling? Was he hurt? Was he coming back after only a week? She fumbled about, attempting to not drop her phone, before pressing the answer button. She would keep a level head and calmly ask Steven what was going on, in a way that wouldn’t seem to be smothering him, or that might cause worry or put him off. She could do this...

...

“ **STEVEN**! Are you ok? Did you crash your car? Are you stuck in traffic? Did you already complete your trip? Are you coming to visit us soon?”

“Hi Pearl.” Steven silently rolled his eyes, though secretly he found it heartwarming that she worried about him. He hadn’t had time to miss home yet, not really after just 1 week, but her care meant so much to him. The obvious fact that she missed him sent a smile straight to his face. “No, I’m doing great. How are you?”

“I’m... doing great.” Though Steven could practically hear the tears in her eyes. Was that even possible? He couldn’t help but have a small tinge if guilt for making her feel bad.

“I was actually calling about that girl that went missing. Do you watch the news?”

“No, but Greg mentioned a missing human child. I think. Was it Bluebird again?”

“No, don’t worry. But if she comes to beach city can you contact her family? I kinda told her that was where I came from and I think she could have run away to see all the gems.”

“Of course, I’ll keep you poster.” Pearl smiled. Even without Steven around she was keeping up with human slang.

“Posted?”

“Yes. That’s what I said, right?” Steven couldn’t help but chuckle. Sometimes they really did act like aliens. Or just parents that are too old and too stubborn to learn new slang and stuff. “Oh and Steven, before you go?”

“Yeah?”

“I can tell you are blaming yourself. Don’t. Ok?”

“Yeah, yeah. Bye Pearl. Love you.”

“Aww you too Steven! Bye!”


	8. Training and relaxing at the beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring spends some time training and relaxing on the beach. Apparently living a double life is harder than it looks.

“Just think about the shape that you want the water to go in and... move it.” Lapis produced a hand of water from the ocean and waved it about like it were nothing. She didn’t seem to have to think about it, not really. She could produce watery hands, wings, chains, look alike people.... it was rather impressive. Had Spring’s mother been able to do that? Was that why Amber had said that she loved the ocean?

Amber. Spring suddenly remembered. Why was she trying to use her powers? She couldn’t. She had no idea how to use her mom’s fantastic gem...

“I.... can’t.” Spring strained but the water refused to move. To be honest she felt kinda ridiculous standing there wishing water would move with her mind. For some reason this also made her smile giddily. How weird was it to be standing in the sand trying to move water with your mind?

Lapis looked ready to give up but sighed and tried again. Steven had taught her to give people another go. He gave her another go, even when she almost drowned him. Well... she almost drowned a lot of people. 

The fact that Spring smiled through the whole thing was slightly unnerving. Most Lapis were quiet and sometimes slightly melancholy. She was rather energetic, almost as much as Steven was when he was little. “But I’ll keep trying until I do! How did you learn to use yours?”

“You don’t learn. I guess it usually comes naturally. Steven’s didn’t though, he had to learn. I think he did it when he felt protective or really happy.”

“Really happy, ok....” Spring tried to think positive which wasn’t too hard. Only she needed to concentrate on staying in a gem shape too, so it was more difficult than usual. What made her happy? 

Lapis.

Beach city.

The ocean.

Lion!

Suddenly the water rose a little almost taking the shape of a wobbly lion..... until Spring fell down and almost fainted. She could feel her body tugging to retain its usual human form, crying out at having to stay in this unusual shape for too long.

“Wow! You ok?” Lapis sprouted wings and lifted Spring up. Immediately she set her down onto the soft sand. She was _hot_. Gems didn’t get hot, not really. Stars, Bismuth swum in **LAVA** sometimes, but still retained a rather cool temperature.

“Yep! Just need a rest. Really tired, gotta go!” Spring smiled gratefully and shot off like a rocket. 

“Funny.” Before she could think more of it though Lapis spotted Pearl walking towards the ocean. “Pearl! Hey Pearl? Can I have Steven’s number? I wanted to ask him for a new name for that pink Lapis. I asked Peri, but she can only think of names from Camp Pining Hearts!”

“Oh sure! He’d probably love to hear from you! Warning though, at the moment he doesn’t contact anyone, other than Connie, unless he’s feeling down, or he thinks you are. So if he doesn’t respond he’s not dead! It actually means that he’s ok! And not dead. Why would he be dead? You aren’t worried that he’s dead, right?” 

“Ok. Pretty sure you were the only one worried about that. He’s not gonna die.”

“Are you sure!? Do you really think so?”

“Umm. Yeah.” Lapis giggled a little. Peridot, who spent more time studying each customs than Lapis, had decided that Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl would suffer from ‘empty nest’ syndrome. She wondered if excessive worrying was one of the symptoms. Though they did have Greg now, he wasn’t the same. He spent all day at the car wash and had a life that didn’t really involve the gems at all.

“I guess he did contact me this morning...” Pearl mused.

“Have you... noticed anything odd about that Lapis, by the way?” Lapis delicately added, as if it were an afterthought.

“Well... I’ve never heard of a pink Lapis Lazuli.”

“Yes, but she was really warm. And she finds using her powers exhausting. And she wears human clothes!” 

“As does Peridot!” Though Pearl knew it was for different reasons. She still hadn’t gotten out of her ‘be Steven’ faze. (Though hadn’t Garnet mentioned her trying on underwear once?)

“And she’s so sweet, like a little kid. Not like a adversity hardened off-colour! Plus I think she had bruises. Like a human!”

“Everyone’s different, we can’t be ones to judge!” Lapis decided to keep an eye on her anyway. “Anyway, I’m off to see Greg! He’s teaching me how to use Steven’s ukulele. I’ll never play any other instrument again....” tears welled in her eyes and she wandered off.

“Wait! Who’s gonna teach the piano class next week then?”

...

As the waves gently lapped the sand, licking the odd jagged rock, Spring sighed in pure contentment. She wasn’t stretching, surely she could pass as a town human, especially with a hoodie. She hadn’t had a chance to interact with many of the humans here, she’d have to have a go. Though she might have to do so as a gem, because she had caught her face on the news. 

The suns last rays stretched her shadow to precarious lengths before disappearing leaving glittering stars and moonlight in its wake. Here in a small town there were less lights and there seemed to be double... maybe even triple... the amount of stars she was used to. She couldn’t help but wonder. If gems were aliens did that mean there were other aliens out there? How many of these stars had life circling them? It was astonishing to think about, really.

Had it really only been a week and a half since she had run away? She had spent only three of such days living with the gems but felt very comfortable there. Sure, it was odd, being fully submerged into an unknown culture, but she liked it. 

And the beach. So sweet and quiet. It was times like this when she could let her face rest from her persistent smiles and just try not to think about her hidden insecurities and fear. She was good at that. Smiling and forgetting. 

Sometimes she found it harder to forget than others.

Amber. What if she came here? What if she hurt her? What if they fused? What if they hurt someone?

No. She was not Sunset-Lazuli. She’d never have to fuse again. Never ever ever. She was just Spring. She was sweet, friendly and funny. Not scared and quiet! She wasn’t Sunset... Spring was just Spring. Or whatever she would be dubbed, apparently Lapis was asking Steven for help with that.

Steven! Steven was her hero! He had been the one to point her in the direction of little Homeschool! One day she’d have to thank him. Accept no, she wouldn’t, because he’d never met the Pink Lapis Lazuli. That would be her secret, forever. And ever.

Unfortunately not all secrets can stay ‘secret’ for long, let alone forever. And ever.


	9. Fusion Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring and Lapis spend a nice day out. Spring wraps it up nicely by rousing suspicions from Garnet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! I also hope the story isn’t moving too fast or anything? This was how I imagined it going. By the way Spring has been a runaway for about 3 weeks and a bit. Just in case you were wondering. I didn’t really make it clear, sorry!

“Woohoo! This is amazing!” Spring shouted, having never felt so alive as she did in that particular moment. The wind pulled her hair back in a messy wild mane, albeit a blue and pink one. Her smile stretched wider than Lapis thought possible, causing her to smile too. She flapped her delicate wings as she soared over the ocean. Underneath little fish and... bits of some kind of spaceship... (and cracks? Did this place have a lot of earthquakes or something?)....zoomed past, as if they were watching a movie in fast forward. “This is the best thing to **ever** happen to me!”

Lapis giggled. Spring’s joy was infectious. She had a childlike and sweet view of the world that Lapis couldn’t help but love her. She was almost like a little sister. Or maybe even a daughter. At least as far as Lapis knew of human relationships. She couldn’t believe she’d been suspicious of her. Spring was so sweet, her third best friend ever (Peridot holds first place, and Steven second, obviously) she’d never lie to Lapis.

“So are you ready to go back?” She teased, knowing the answer already.

“Never! Whooo!!!” She tightened her grip on Lapis’s hands, bare feet dangling dangerously close to the cool water. It appeared that this didn’t bother her at all though. Suddenly her grip loosened. Even though she was so light Lapis had to tug hard to keep her up. 

“Oh, careful!”

“S-sorry! We can go back if you want? I don’t mean-“

“No! I love this! Even Peri doesn’t always want to go flying with me, she prefers to use her metal powers!” The two of them continued flying along for a minute, enjoying watching the horizon. It never got closer to them, staying just out of reach, teasing the duo. It was so peaceful and beautiful. Spring sighed in contentment. She couldn’t wait until she had wings of her own. She would fly all day and all night and never stop, escaping the world underneath her. Lapis eventually spoke, snapping Spring out of her blissful thoughts. “Oh... Speaking of Peridot we actually should probably head back. Peri wanted to show me something!”

“Aww! Ok then!” Flying was something she could do in the future anyways.

...

“Behold! My latest Meep-Morp.” Peridot spread her short green arms out triumphantly, doing little jazz hands as she indicated towards what was, to the untrained eye, a pile of meaningless garbage. Lapis seemed extremely impressed by it though and Spring decided to leave her and Peridot alone for awhile. It was sweet watching the two together.

She had adopted the name Spring, even as a gem, as it was much easier than trying to remember a few different names. Spring, Lapis Lazuli, Ocean, Sunset.

No! She wasn’t Sunset. Not now. Not ever again. No way. Unfortunately Garnet seemed very interested in teaching her to fuse. Spring hadn’t expressed dislike verbally about it like the other new gems, so Garnet assumed it was all good to teach her about it. Plus she’d accidentally signed up for fusion lessons. Oops.

And that was where she was headed now, unfortunately. She didn’t want to flake as Garnet had already spotted her leaving Lapis and Peridot’s house. (Studio? Classroom?). It would be hard to say she’d forgotten when Garnet had literally called her over.

The class started ok, gems had to sit and meditate while Garnet spoke. Spring could do that without falling asleep, just. Staying in this form was tiring and the quiet atmosphere and soothing music didn’t help her to stay awake. Then Garnet started talking about fusion...

“When you fuse, if you have the right partner, you aren’t just you. You’re an experience!” It all seemed like a lot of effort to go through to them force someone to weld into a single being with you. Sure, fusion _was_ an experience, but it was one of those experiences that you learn what _not_ to do from, and then avoid any situation that could lead to such events transpiring ever again.

Garnet seemed to always jump upon any new fusion, grinning like a wild thing. Spring couldn’t understand it. But she wanted to. It was part of being a gem, after all. But she would never fuse. She couldn’t do that to a fellow gem. No way. Especially now that she knew them.

But she could still ask Garnet about it, right?

Right... because _that_ won’t lead to any problems at all.

...

After the lengthy class (was it truly the same length as cooking class? Or gem history class?) finally finished and the other gems filtered away Spring quickly ran up to her teacher.

“Garnet! Can I... ask you something?” Garnet smiled.

“Yes. You want to ask me about fusion.”

“How did you-?”

“Future vision. Though you seem to avoid it a lot. Do the unexpected.” The whole thing had perplexed Garnet a large amount actually. Initially, when she had first arrived, Garnet had envisioned Spring as quiet, calm and subdued. Afraid of everyone. But she wasn’t. Garnet hadn’t envisioned her signing up for fusion class (though it seemed Spring hadn’t envisioned that either, in all honesty). Nor had she seen a future where Spring and Lapis became such good friends. In all her visions she hadn’t been called ‘Spring’. It was all a bit unnerving. 

“Really? Future vision! That’s SO cool! Can you see what will happen tomorrow?”

“You’ve never heard of future vision before?”

“Nope! Again. That’s. So. Cool! Do you know definite futures or is it like a pick your path book?” Spring didn’t notice the confusion in the fusions face. Instead she was thinking of the possibilities! What could one do with future vision? 

“You said you came as an off-colour from homeworld. Why haven’t you heard of a Sapphire before? Of future vision?” Spring’s face burned a bright red. Her smile fell off as quickly as it liked to spontaneously appear.

“S-she was an off-colour. She-I _,_ _I_ didn’t get to see all the planet!” Seeing that this answer didn’t please Garnet (perhaps it was the accidental ‘she’, rather than ‘I’) she tried a different tactic. “But _of course_ I know what a Sapphire is! T-they can predict the future!” Garnet smiled. Of course.

“Cool. Why don’t you say hi to us then?” Then she unfused. Garnet had a plan. Just a little plan, based off a curious inkling. She wished she didn’t have to unfuse to do it though.

“You escaped!” Spring burst out, though she wasn’t sure who escaped from who. Then she blushed and clapped her hands over her mouth.

“Wha-? Anyway, I’m Sapphire.” The gem on the right saluted like a soldier.

“Ruby.” The quiet gem on the right held her hand out for a polite handshake.

“Nice to meet you! But why aren’t you? Who trapped who? I mean... gotta go!” Spring blushed, again, and rushed off. That conversation had confused her so much.

Neither gem looked relieved to be out of the fusion, neither had run away as soon as it were done. Why had they stayed together _and_ held hands even? She never felt like that after fusion. What was she missing?

Meanwhile Ruby and Sapphire frowned. The red, stocky gem on the right let fire burn under her feet. The quiet blue gem on the left had a silent expression of fear on her face. Though as her eye was covered it was slightly hard to tell.

“If she’s not from homeworld where is she from?” She whispered.

“She TRICKED us!” Ruby yelled.

“She didn’t know the difference between a Ruby and a Sapphire. This wasn’t in any of my visions.”

“WHO EVEN _IS_ SHE?” 

“You would have thought the obvious colour would give us away. She was clearly flustered.”

“What is she DOING? _Pretending_ to be a gem??”

“Ruby, calm down. We need to think rationally about this. Let’s talk to the other gems.” With that they reunited to go and unravel Spring’s lies even further.


	10. Arguments and Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Spring and Garnet’s odd conversation. I think Garnet might be suspicious...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do I name the chapters? I can’t think of any names!   
> Also the next few chapters are a but dialogue heavy. Sorry. Are all my chapters like that? I dunno. Hope you enjoy anyway!

Staying shape shifted for long periods of time was really getting to Spring. Because of Amber, and her rather rough treatment, she’d never been a particularly healthy person but she’d never fallen ill. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was a side effect of being half gem. Did Steven ever get ill? Come to think of it were there any other half gem/humans or there? _Oh_ Spring was far to tired to overthink things now.

Though she’d never been ill in the past, now she always felt a sweat on her forehead and a bit of a sore throat. As soon as she got back from her... awkward conversation with Garnet, Spring opened up the sofa bed, let her gem put her back in her usual shape and slept. Her little apartment was as messy as it could be with the limited items she owned but she couldn't be bothered to pick anything up. She didn’t bother to brush her tangled blue and pink hair, nor did she change into PJ’s. She didn’t have any shoes to remove. Even if she did Spring doubted she would have bothered. Instead the hybrid slept thankfully, not knowing that at that very moment the gems were having an argument... about her.

...

“WE DON’T KNOW WHO SHE IS!!!” Ruby and Sapphire had unfused again, and they were all having an argument in the burning room, the room where the corrupted gems were once stored. Now the air above was wonderfully empty, save for one or two gem experiments that Yellow still hadn’t gotten around to. It was nice, really nice, to know it had once been filled with gems that were now living as they pleased in peace. 

“But Little Homeworld is a place for all gems. Little Homeschool is to help teach all gems!” Pearl reminded.

“GEMS! _GEMS_! Is she even a GEM?” Ruby was obviously super angry, but secretly a bit scared. She was clutching Sapphire’s hand tightly.

“Ruby, calm down. You’re burning the floor.” Sapphire reminded her cautiously.

“THE FLOOR HAS LAVA IN IT!” 

“Yo dude, chill out. Spring seems like a pretty cool person to me.”

“Look, Ruby I know you are on edge because Steven left-“

“This isn’t about Steven! Not everything is about Steven!”

“Ruby. We were fused. I know what we were thinking. ‘If we had listened to Steven about Bluebird he might not have gotten as bad as he did’, right? And what if Spring is like Bluebird?”

Ruby muttered something between a complaint and an affirmation. 

“Ok, Ok, we can keep a close eye on her, how about that?” Pearl suggested a good compromise.

“Why don’t you see if she wants to fuse. If she doesn’t you know she’s hiding something, ‘cuz when you’re fused you know what each other is thinking!”

“AMETHYST! You are a genius!” Ruby declared. Then she looked at Sapphire. “F-forgive me? I’m sorry I got carried away....”

“Aww Ruby. It’s one of the many things I love about you.” And with that they re-fused, ready to go off and find if Spring was who she said. They were in for a bit of a shock.


	11. The confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet finally confronts Spring. It doesn’t go as well as she expected... or at all like she expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else bored out of their minds in isolation? That’s why I’ve been posting almost everyday. Hope everyone is ok!

“Spring! Open the door!” The words shocked Spring awake. She leapt up. Who was that? Amber? Was Amber here? Now? Where could she run? Where could she hide? How had she-

Common sense kicked in, eventually, prevailing over Spring’s blind paranoia. It _wasn’t_ Amber, she _wasn’t_ going to have to fuse. She did, though, need to shape shift. It took a minute this time, slightly worrying but now wasn’t the time. Spring took a deep breath, in and out, before wandering over to the door. Happily she pulled it open. And there was her very tall teacher, Garnet. Spring grinned at the sight of her, especially her cool shades. Many gems wore Star related items, including Steven. Perhaps Spring could find something with a star on to wear. She’d love to feel even more apart of the team. Oh wow, Garnet always looked so cool.

“Hi! Garnet!” She couldn’t help but smile, seemingly forgetting their awkward interaction earlier. Though Spring felt sorry for the fusion it was nice to see her. She liked Garnet a lot. She was quiet calm (usually) and her classes were varied and interesting, even if they were about fusion.

“Hello Spring.” Garnet suddenly realised that she had no plan here and quickly reviewed possible futures. But she knew so little about Spring that all of the future possibilities kind of fizzled out after a certain point, leaving her none the wiser on what to do. So she decided not to beat around the bush. “I want to teach you how to fuse. With me.”

“What? No! I-I-I-I-I—“

Just as she’d suspected. She didn’t want to fuse. Why? What secrets could Spring be hiding?

“You signed up for a class in understanding Fusion.” It wasn’t really something you learnt, so Garnet saw it as a class where she could teach them stability, bonding, only giving the occasional tip on how to actually fuse.

“B-By accident! I-I don’t... I didn’t mean to! I wanted to understand but not.... And I thought this place was all about peace?” Spring jumped from one sentence to the other, without really completing any of them. The last question, however, caught Garnet’s attention.

“Peace?” This had confused Garnet further, rendering her without _any_ future based guidance. “Fusion is about peace... may I come in? Then we can talk more freely.” Her voice remained deadpan, somehow complimenting Spring’s unusual nervousness. Usually she was so bright and full of optimism. Why was she so scared? Why did she look exhausted? Why did she have beads of sweat on her forehead? Garnet knew she was hiding something.

Spring’s room revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The bright purple surfaces fit in well with the the little decor she had added; a lilac rocking chair and a painting of the ocean. The kitchen was clearly used so she liked to eat. The sofa bed was pulled out, ready to be slept on. The TV looked untouched though. The remote was just gathering dust atop of it. It was a little messy, a backpack on the floor and unwashed dishes in the sink. 

“You like earth customs then? Eating, sleeping and things.” Garnet observed.

“Ohh yes. It’s refreshing.”

“And human clothes.”

“Mmm. I like human clothes.” Spring blushed.

“But you dislike fusion and TV. Why?”

“TV? It’s a bit of a time waster, isn’t it?” Seeing her own face on the news had been too much to handle. After that first night Spring hadn’t been able to do so much as touch it. “Primitive human stuff...” that was parroting a phrase from another new gem she’d recently met.

“What about fusion?” Garnet repeated. She had removed her shades and her three eyes bore into Spring’s own two light blue and pink ones. Widened eyes. Filled with panic. Then fear. Then anger. In the month Spring had been with them not once had she shown any signs of anger. This quickly dissipated.

“Because! It’s BAD!” Only she didn’t sound angry now. Instead Spring’s voice broke at the end, desolving into a strangled sob. “It hurts and it-“

“What?” Garnet could feel herself falling apart for the third time that night. Fusion hurting?

“It hurts! It pulls and you are trapped and you can’t move or breath or, or, or-“ Spring was having trouble breathing now, she gripped at her sides, trying to not freak out while also staying as a Lapis while also not looking suspicious.

“Calm down! Take a deep breath-“ Garnet reached forward to grab Spring’s arm. Only... gems didn’t need to breath. Should she be hyperventilating? Did gems do that when they were nervous?

“No! I-“ Fight or Flight mode took over. Especially flight mode. All Spring could think was ‘escape! Leave! Run!’ So she did. Garnet looked on in shock as she bolted across the room. To the balcony. And then...over it and into the growingly dark night sky.  
Wings! She had wings! Spring smiled in delight. Only they were so heavy, she was so heavy. And the ground so undeniably close... maybe she could close her eyes for just... a.... second....


	12. The truth, the dream and the phone call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is finally out about Spring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this one is longer (I think?). There is quite a bit of dialogue too. Some mentions of illness, but it’s just a temperature. Thought I’d mention just in case some people were sensitive. I also tried to write a dream sequence? Hope you enjoy!

“What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?” Pearl kept repeating, seemingly unable to grasp the situation. Or say anything else.

“So it’s... human?” Amethyst prodded the sleeping figure on the couch, who didn’t even move in response. Her skin _was_ rather squishy, just like an organic’s.

“No Amethyst. She’s like Steven.” Garnet knew that much at least. She still wanted answers though. She always found it odd when she didn’t know what was going to happen, didn’t even have a glimpse of what was to come. It also perplexed her that Spring being a half human had gone without them knowing. It was so obvious now, but they never questioned it. Just like Bluebird. Just like Steven’s problems. They just never noticed anything was wrong until it was too late.

“But Steven never contracted a human illness!” They had discovered that an elevated temperature was a sign of human illness when Pearl texted Connie. They just thought she was hot because of ‘organic stuff’ to begin with.

“Steven never spent _a whole month_ stretching himself out.”

“It’s actually only been 3 weeks and 3 days since she went missing and she has only spent about 2 weeks in little homeschool!!” Peridot corrected.

“He turned into a baby after only a day. Remember.” Garnet had a point. Not one of them knew what would happen to a half human, or even a gem, if they tried to stretch for that long. “We should ask Greg what to do. He lives here, he’ll be back in 20 minutes.”

“I have read up about human illnesses on my tablet! Ok, ok... she needs plenty of fluids and... we can put honey on her stings. She has been ‘stung by a bee’ right? That’s a figure of speech.”

“Are you sure that it’s-Ohh! She is waking up!”

Spring’s eyes scrunched up before opening wide in panic. She shot up, only to clutch her head and slowly drop back down. “W-where am I?”

She was in some sort of half rock half wooden house, by the beach likely as she could hear the waves. She wondered how you could live here without needing the bathroom every 5 minutes. The hybrid could see a kitchen, a warp pad and this funny door if she strained her neck. She didn’t want to get up to look around, Spring was on a comfy L shaped sofa of some sort, much too welcoming for her tired body to want to move. She could see an assortment of gems sitting or standing around her. The fusion; Garnet, her friends Lapis and Peridot. That friendly... Pearl was it? And Amethyst.

“You’re in our house.” Pearl answered. “Well... Greg’s house. On the sofa.” Oh. Why was she? What happened?

“Oh! I’m so sorry I-“ realisation dawned on Spring. Why was she still short? Why wasn’t she shape shifted? “...I’m not shape shifted! You know I’m- that I..?”

“Yep! You are some sort of hybrid creature. Like Steven!” Peridot responded. She wrinkled her nose slightly. “Though the question is how we never knew about you.... the chances of having two such anomalies is quite astronomical!”

“I thought you were a Lapis. Like me.” Lapis sounded slightly disappointed. Spring knew she couldn’t live up to being a great Lapis like her mother.

“S-Sorry.” Spring blushed, though that could have been due to her fever.

“We can ask questions later. Right now you need to rest!” Pearl pulled the blanket back over Spring.

“Yeah, stretching yourself out for too long isn’t cool.”

“Didn’t you spend a month as a toilet?” Lapis asked sarcastically.

“Hmff! What do we do now, anyway?” Amethyst asked, ignoring Lapis’ question altogether.

“Ohh! We could raise her! She could be our own little Steven!” Pearl suggested. Though they’d already _had_ their ‘own little Steven’ before, so she didn’t have to say it like it were such a groundbreaking idea.

“What? I... I don’t....” Spring yawned. “I don’t need _raising_.” Though she thought secretly that this sounded amazing! Living alone was ok but super lonely. She barely went out accept for lessons and that time with Lapis; staying stretched was just not worth it. Though it was all preferable to living with Amber, but still super lonely. The fact they knew now was a huge weight off of her shoulders, almost literally as well as figuratively. Her constant worry that they would find out, that she might get hurt and that would tip them off, or the worry she might say something wrong (again) was suddenly gone. And they didn’t kick her out for being human either!

“Human children usually don’t live alone until they are at least 19 years of age. They don’t fully mature until 25. That is a third of the way through their expected life spans... this seems rather inefficient....” 

“Peridot! You are getting off topic... though that would make for a nice background for a morp...” Lapis mentally retained that information for later. Along the line they’d run short of special occasions to represent and were trying new things.

“Greg is coming.” Garnet informed them, and as if on cue he appeared out the front door. Spring looked carefully at this ‘Greg’. He was a slightly tubby middle aged man, with short scruffy hair about shoulder length and brown. He was fairly bald on the scalp and wore shorts and a top that showed clear sunburnt tan lines. He had a funny little fluffy beard and was carrying bags of what was presumably shopping. Which he promptly dropped after seeing all the gems and a human child in his home. Sure, some of the gems lived here, but not all of them. And why was there a human in there?

“What’s going on?” Then he looked closer at the little girl. “You are that missing kid, Spring, was it? Call the police!” 

“You kidnap Steven one time and they always blame you!” Peridot muttered.

“No Greg, we didn’t kidnap her. She was living as a gem in little homeworld for half a month. She is a hybrid. Like Steven.” Garnet informed him. 

“Wow! Nice to meet you!” Greg grinned. He’d always thought his son was the only hybrid. It was kinda nice that he wasn’t alone. On further inspection the girl was rather thin, she had some receding old bruises, red cheeks and, most noticeably, huge bags under her blue and pink eyes. “Are you ok? You don’t look so hot.” He carefully indicated he was going to touch her before feeling Springs forehead. “Yikes! I was wrong, you’re burning up!” He pushed her back down and pulled the blanket over her. “What did you guys do to her?” Amethyst pretended to take offence. 

“Hey!”

“We didn’t. She was stretching herself out for too long.” Garnet folded her arms.

“We need to contact her parents!”

“W-what? No! I mean... you c-can’t!” Spring tried to get back up in protest... but the couch was so warm and she was so cold. It was so inviting that she dropped off before she could finish her thoughs.

“So... we keep her then?” Amethyst asked, turning to Greg for permission.

“No! When people have temperatures they can’t think straight. We do need to contact her family to make sure they know she is ok. They may want to come over. They probably will want to take her back too. I’ll get the number from the news.” Greg hurried upstairs to have a look on the TV there. The others sat in silence. 

“I’ll miss her.” Lapis admitted, only slightly sheepishly.

“They might let us keep her!”

“I dunno. We sort of messed up with Steven, didn’t we.” Garnet asked, though it wasn’t quite a question. It was a rather.... sobering thought.

“Speaking of Steven I want to contact him with this information!” Peridot got out her own little phone and began tapping the screen meaningfully. Not 3 minutes of nervous waiting later Steven (wearing his pj trousers but a normal top, apparently he was half way through getting dressed) appeared on the warp pad.

“What in stars is going on?!” He looked neon pink all over and extremely panicked. A look they hadn’t seen in awhile. But if you are suddenly told there is an emergency at 11 at night then it makes sense to panic at least a little. All Peridot had texted was ‘ _Come asap Steven, important emergency!’_ which only served to panic him even more.

“Sorry Steven! Didn’t mean to worry you. We just found another hybrid creature like you!” At Peridot’s comment the blush mostly vanished and Steven rushed over. 

“Wha? But this is the girl that.... she’s a.... wha?” 

Greg reappeared, gave Steven a hug, and then announced he had the number. “Um... warning, I don’t know how nice her family is? They were kind of shouting at her when I stayed at the bed n breakfast.” Steven announced after multiple hugs and a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. The no longer one-and-only-hybrid was shocked senseless.

“Surely they will be happy to see a missing child. Right?” Pearl said. “Garnet?”

“I cannot see her future at all.” Oh. “Though now we know the truth it’s becoming slightly clearer, now we know some of the truth.”

“Ok then we are on our own! Should I see if I can heal her?” Steven tried giving her a little kiss on the forehead and her temperature decreased, but unfortunately she stayed sound asleep. He wasn’t sure if the fever had gone down all the way or if it was still present.

“I think she needs a rest.” Lapis said. Greg indicated that they should all be quiet. “I got the number of the family. Didn’t wanna call the police. I’ve got it on speaker. Oh! Shh, I think they are answering....”

“Hello. This is Ocean’s Bed and Breakfast, how can I help you?” The voice sounded gruff, but friendly enough. Especially for someone being called so late at night.

“Hello, this is Greg Universe. We... Ugh... found your missing kid?”

The noise that followed was hard to decipher. Was that a sigh of frustration or a sigh of relief?

“Where are you? I’ll pick her up right away.”

“Oh, I can send you all the details in a minute, can I text you? She’s... very tired and a bit unwell. But I’m sure she’ll be ok.”

“ ** _Better be_**.” Though quiet this was bitter and sharp. Greg barely caught it.

“What?”

“She better be ok. I’d be so worried if she weren’t!” Oh. Greg smiled. So she had been worried about Spring.

“Ok, see you-“ the phone beeped signalling the end of the call. “Soon.”

“So she’s half gem?” Steven was still astonished at the thought. He wasn’t alone? There was someone else like him? 

Suddenly Steven was determined. She _would not_ have a repeat of his life. Spring would never feel useless, like a fraud, a monster... **no** she would be proud of who she was. She would have someone to talk to about her problems. Steven would make sure if it. Steven could fix Spring before she got broken. Ugh. He wasn’t broken, he forgot he wasn’t supposed to call himself that. Sometimes it sorta slipped out, especially if he’d been distressed. For example glowing pink perhaps?

“Yep, as far as we can tell dude. She’s an off-colour too!” Amethyst crushed Steven in a hug as she spoke, happy to see her little brother. The other gems joined. It’d been almost 4 weeks since he left, but he planned on spending longer times away from home. 

But then again... he wanted to be there to help Spring. She’d never have PTSD or anxiety or any of the other things Steven had. She could have a perfect life. A perfectly normal life. He could surely visit the Bed and Breakfast from time to time.

“Oh dear. Um... Steven?” Pearl, true to form, had been watching Spring sleep from their hug. Now Spring had started tossing, turning and muttering in her sleep. Her brow was crinkled and she was frowning deeply. “I think she’s having a nightmare?” It would appear that way. No one wanted to wake her up; Spring clearly needed the rest, but she looked rather distressed. 

“Spring! Wake up. Spring? Spring!” Pearl began to shake her gently. Then harder. 

“What do you think she’s dreaming about?” Lapis wondered.

Spring was in some sort of room. It was completely dark. Unnervingly so. Having her eyes open or closed made no difference whatsoever. It was odd, but quiet. Peaceful. Too peaceful. It was odd... Then, after what seemed like an eternity, in the distance Spring saw something. A light... on closer inspection it appeared to be Little homeworld and beach city! Her home! She began to walk towards it, run even, but she wasn’t getting anywhere at all. The invisible floor beneath her wouldn’t let Spring move a centimetre. It was like she was paralysed, doomed to be in that one spot forever... like an invisible mime like box was trapping her so she couldn’t move, she could barely breathe... “Hello? Can anyone help? I think I’m stuck?” At least her voice still worked. A shout answered her call. “I can set you free.” Who was it? Was that Steven? She smiled great fully. But then... he changed. He became taller, his hair longer, a gem appeared on the back of his hand. No... Her hand. “Amber!” She was stuck even more than before now, the blackness keeping her a prisoner so she couldn’t run away, or even recoil as she wanted to. The world around her happily “Fuse with me. I’ll set you free. I know your true power, I can help you!” Ambers facial expression was almost unrecognisable on her face. Was she.... concerned? “No! T-this is just a trick!” Amber smiled. It wasn’t a smile though, was it? It was a snarl. She leapt forward, fusing with Spring. She couldn’t do it! She couldn’t be Sunset. Not now, not ever! But she found herself stepping towards Beach city, larger than she’d ever been before. It was suddenly way closer than they’d thought. Beach City and Little Homeworld was now her home. And she was stepping on it, slamming water down into it with powers she couldn’t control. Fires appeared from nowhere causing further catastrophic damage to it all. And she was laughing. Happy to crush and destroy and hurt others in front of the disappointing looks of all her new friends.

“I knew she was trouble.” Garnet shook her head in pure disgust.

“Can’t believe I trusted her.” Lapis actually turned away.

“Not cool dude.” Amethyst averted her eyes.

“Monster.” Steven declared.

“She’s just a complete waste of her mother’s power.” Amber? But if Amber was there then.... it was just Spring. She was destroying the city! She wasn't Sunset-Lazuli anymore. She was-


	13. Post nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring wakes up and finds a new place to call home.
> 
> Alternatively:
> 
> Greg being forgetful saved everyone (for now).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot name chapters, I’m sorry. Hope you are enjoying it so far. I still have awhile to go before this is finished I think, just because they know about who Spring really is doesn’t mean it’s over. (Isn't it... yes, isn’t it over....)

With a startled gasp Spring awoke, desperately pulling in air and shooting up into a sitting position, startling everyone, especially Pearl who had been trying to shake her awake. Her eyes were wide and for a second she didn’t quite register that her dream was just that. A dream. “I’m so sorry I-I didn’t mean to.... oh.” It was ok, she wasn’t Sunset but she also wasn’t herself trashing the city. Ohh stars, now she had another thing to worry about. 

“It’s ok, you were having a nightmare. Sometimes when people have a temperature they have really vivid dreams.” Greg informed her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been sick before....” she still looked exhausted but Steven had worked his magic and thankfully she was no longer ill. The young hybrid couldn’t help but be excited by this amazing display of power. She had been healed... by someone’s spit! Gross yet totally amazing too!

Spring took a good look at the gems around her, glad that the disappointed looks (and Amber) were gone. Then she beamed. “Steven! Look! I’m a gem like you!” She waved her tired arm towards him, showing the gleaming pink teardrop.

“Yes. You are?” He was smiling but a little confused. She had literally just woken up from a fever induced nightmare (which had caused her to mutter and almost cry in her sleep) and now was happily smiling and looking ready to jump about?

Wait a second...  
Was this what he was like? Steven cringed at the realisation. “Are you a Lapis then?” Though the colour was off she could only be a Lapis or an Aquamarine. She seemed to tall to be the latter, though she was a hybrid. For a long time he hadn’t been anywhere near Rose Quartz’s height, let alone Pink Diamond’s height! Wait... were they the same height?

“Ohh yes! My Mom was anyway! Lapis has been teaching me to use my powers.” She yawned, mouth open wide, but quickly covered it up. 

“Why don’t you get some rest?” Pearl suggested. Spring began to lay back down slowly.

“Your family’s coming over soon!” Amethyst added. Suddenly Spring was wide awake, she jolted upright, comforting blankets forgotten.

“Y-you don’t have to-“

“Already called them over. Oh Stars, I forgot to send the details, your folks won’t have a clue where to go. Look, I know what’s it’s like to run away, but trust me. You’ll regret doing it at such a young age. Wait ‘till you’re older.” Greg peered at the child. “How old are you?”

“I’m 12.” That was how old Steven had been when he moved in with the gems, right?  
...Was Steven the only one who noticed how fake that smile was all of a sudden? He looked at the other gems, most of whom had moved back by now and were sitting at the table, on their phone or eating in the kitchen (well that was just Amethyst, actually). He was the only one still on the couch, even his Dad had decided to put away his groceries.

“You ok?” Steven whispered, not wanting to make her uncomfortable by inadvertently telling everyone she looked scared.

“Y-yes. I’m fine.” Steven flinched. He couldn’t help it. But he had other things to worry about. ~~_Don’t turn pink, don’t turn pink... He couldn’t avoid the phrase forever..._~~

“You sure? Who is coming to get you?”

“A-a-a-Amber. She’s a gem too.” It seemed that Spring stuttered when she was nervous. 

“An Amber. Wow, that’s pretty rare. They stopped being made halfway through era 2 because they had Quartz soldiers instead. Most of the remaining ones live on Homeworld.” Spring blinked. Most of her gem history classes flew right over her head. This was new information. What was an era? “Is she not nice to you?” He whispered carefully.

“Y-y-yes. She’s.....” all will to be nice suddenly disappeared from Spring. “I d-don’t like her.”

“Why?” Steven was clutching at his gem now, cheeks blushed pink. Stars, he was turning pink more often in one night than he had through his whole month on the road. No, since he started therapy! Why was this making him so nervous?

“Sh-she makes me fuse. I d-don’t like that.” Garnet immediately dropped her phone. A horrible little ‘clinck’ was heard (Garnet really needed a phone case) but no one even bothered to check the damage, let alone look in the phone’s general direction.   
Did she just say that...

“She. _Makes you_ fuse.” Garnet looked horrified and disgusted all at once. Her voice had gone all quiet and dangerous. In fact all was quiet in the room. Lapis had stopped mooching at the table and instead was sitting upright, face pale.

“Yeh. I d-don’t like fusing. I-it’s so... it hurts.” She muttered, blushing due to all the attention. All of her natural happiness seemed to have been sucked out of her. “I don’t know why I’m telling you,” she looked pointedly vaguely at Garnet. “You know, you fuse all the time!” Spring was suddenly defensive. Not angrily defensive, just nervous and jumpy. 

“Spring. Fusing isn’t like what you think. Usually you only fuse when you feel love or a connection with those around you.” Garnet’s voice was strained and worried. She hated the experiments, the cluster and Malachite. Now, _in the future_, there were still people grievously mistreating fusion. She couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t stand for it.

“I-I-?” Spring blinked. Garnet was speaking nonsense “No. Fusion is about power. Making up for the lack of power you have.” Her voice was flat. Devoid of the joy and spark it usually had. To her this was just common fact.

“No! Spring, listen to me.” Steven grasped both of her shoulders. “That is not fusion. And that is not ok. If that’s what this... Amber made you think then you can’t go back with her. Right?” Steven looked over at the Crystal Gems for approval.

“I agree.” Garnet didn’t hesitate.

“Me too.” 

“Definitely!” The other Crystal Gems agreed immediately, including the present members of the so called ‘B team’.

“Umm... She is a minor though. Legally she can only be removed from Amber’s custody if we can prove that she’s mistreating her.” Greg reminded them. “And even then she might not be left in our care. She barely knows you guys and only just met me!” 

“Do you have to be registered to do that?” 

“Registered to what?” Peridot questioned.

“Anything?” Spring replied vaguely. 

“Ohh! She’s like Steven! His birth wasn’t registered!” Pearl exclaimed excitedly. Greg blushed. He’d received _quite_ the telling off from Dr Maheswaran for that one, especially after his first disastrous hospital visit. “So Amber can’t have rights because Spring technically didn’t exist!” 

“So... I can stay in little Homeworld? In Beach City?” Spring crossed her fingers. She was still feeling a little drowsy, but the events around her had woken her up quicker than usual. She wasn’t sure what she could do if she wasn’t allowed to stay. Perhaps go back to walking. It would be different than walking to Beach City, she would be walking without a goal, that’d be ok though. She could make money by offering to mow lawns and stuff, or demonstrating her powers. She’d have to train by herself, but Spring was sure she could manage it eventually. She’d even managed to use her wings. Probably. The hybrid couldn’t really remember. The only thing she really worried about were the nights. Too cold and dark to do anything, but you can’t sleep in case someone sneaks up behind you and takes your stuff. She felt uncomfortable with the idea of stealing but she was sure a few apples or other produce from farms wouldn’t be missed. If she needed clothes she could possibly live with taking one item from a washing line or two, so long as she left a few apples in return or... watered their plants maybe? Dread began to slowly build inside Spring. How could she manage it? Last time she’d been _terrified_ , but like everything else she just pushed those memories to the back of her mind.

“Spring? You still there?” Steven was waving his hand in front of her eyes, interrupting her spiral.

“AGH! Oh, sorry! Yes, I’m still here. What did you say?” She smiled hopefully.

“Of course you can stay! But we can’t have you live alone...” Pearl began to muse over where they could put her.

“I could go back in my van?”

“She could live in the temple with us! I have a mattress in one of my junk piles!”

“Too dangerous. My room has _lava_.” They chattered on about where Spring could live while she sat on the couch, legs crossed like a school child (though she’d never been to school) smiling in pure bliss. This was perfect! She could live in Beach City! No more fusing, or waiting on tables or Amber... Amber... hadn’t Greg contacted Amber?

“G-Greg?” Spring tugged at his sleeve from her position on the couch. “D-Did you end up texting Amber?”

“Oh stars... I forgot!” His timely forgetfulness was their saviour! Greg peered at his phone. It was flooded with missed calls and texts from a business number. They knew it was Amber though, as Greg had labeled it ‘The Ocean Blue Bed and Breakfast’ from when he booked Steven’s room.

**Amber: Are you sending me the details**

**Amber: where can I pick her up**

**2 missed call/s from Amber**

**Amber: it’s been more than 10 minutes**

**Amber: where are you**

**Amber: you better tell me you don’t know who I am or what I’m capable of**

**1 missed call/s from Amber**

“Ohh boy...” Greg sighed. “What do I say to Amber?”

“Wrong number?” Steven suggested. 

“Ignore it. That’s what I do if someone’s buggin’ me!” Amethyst suggested. “Let’s not bother with that anyway, she doesn’t know where we are and never will!”

“Ok.” Steven, Greg and the other gems reluctantly agreed. Even Garnet still was having trouble with Spring’s future, there were too many variables and unknowns to see a clear path. But so long as Greg sent her no details she shouldn’t have to meet this Amber. He could just block her number. 

“So what happens now?” Peridot’s question confused them all. What did happen now? Did they just. Keep going? 

“Ok, Spring can’t live alone, we established that, she can’t live here...”

“Ohh ohh ohh!!” Peridot started jumping up and down waving her arms about. “Us! She could live with us!” 

Lapis cringed. “At our studio barn?” It wasn’t really a barn to be honest. It was another house/apartment type thing, like Spring’s own little one. It was fashioned to look like the barn they had lived in, with the second floor a bit like Steven’s used to be (before the wall, visible yet on another floor) with plenty of space for morps and supplies they didn’t want to keep in class. It had hammocks instead of beds and window boxes of vegetables, thanks to Peridot. It reminded them of home. Lapis and Peridot shared their ‘studio barn’ as they had enjoyed sharing the original barn together. It even currently had a hole in the wall like the barn once had. Unfortunately Bismuth had been up to her gem in Jasper shaped repair requests, so it’d take her and her apprentices awhile to get around to it. 

“Yes! They got to raise Steven! _We_ can raise Spring!!” Peridot exclaimed happily. Secretly she’d always loved the idea of raising a human. Well, after she’d gotten over her hatred of earth and the Crystal Gems.

“We can’t do that!?” Cried Lapis. “I love Spring and all but I have no idea how to look after a human!”

“ _Please_! I can look after myself! I don’t have to eat much, I’m used to that, I can just eat when Amethyst does her classes. I don’t have to have a bed either, my one at the BnB wasn’t that great and I don’t have to even have one. I can clean and stuff if you want me to! And... I’m talking too much, aren’t I? Sorry, I can be quiet!” She smiled hopefully, eyes showing how desperate she really felt. Lapis melted. She couldn’t help it! Spring was doing the puppy dog eyes.

“Fine... you can come live with us.”

Spring immediately leapt up, not seeming to be tired at all now, or fazed by her fever. Her eyes lit up and she literally jumped up and down with joy. 

“Thank you! Thank you so much! I promise I’ll be helpful and that you won’t regret it!” She hugged each of them in turn, bashfully, mind you, but she was just so excited. 

The gems, Steven and Greg found seeing this side of her quite amusing. The whole time they’d known her she was quiet, rather subdued, only giving little glimpses of her excitable personality. Likely the fact she was living with Amber or stretching herself had kind of dimmed her personality. Steven had found it hard to be himself and concentrate when he was stretched, he seemed to recall. They knew she was a little happy and childish but it was nice to see her like this. Steven couldn’t help but see so much of himself in Spring. He used to get so excited over such things, didn’t he? In fact he had a distinct memory of writing a whole song because he was happy to move in with the gems, it was almost like their theme tune or something after that!

“Greg, I have a few questions to ask you about raising a human.” Peridot began berating Greg with odd questions. “What is a ‘cold’? How much expired cow juice in a block... I mean ‘cheese’ should one human consume in a day? Is bathing required or optional? What time is ‘bedtime’? Is that a good idea?”

“Um... an illness, as much as you want and yes, it’s required.. bedtime is a good idea” Greg faulted a bit. It was odd. He’d never explained any of this stuff to the gems, just assumed they knew. How would they know? Pearl had read one or two parenting books, but that was when Steven was only little, before he’d moved in. They knew his personal likes and dislikes but little about humans themselves. Sometimes Greg was surprised Steven had turned out as well as he had. Connie’s mom had rightfully pointed out that many children who have been neglected end up a lot worse than Steven. Greg hadn’t even known how long Steven would be left alone for in the beach house before recently. “And you have to spend time with her and make sure she’s loved. Make sure she knows that it’s ok to help others but you can also help yourself.” Greg was speaking more to Steven now than Lapis and Peridot, making the young man blush. It was sweet how they liked to remind him in little ways that he was loved and he should care for himself. It was nice. He enjoyed that part of ‘recovery’ as it was called.

“Ok then! It’s.... almost midnight, so we should take Spring home to bed. Right?” Spring looked ready to protest but she _was_ exhausted still, as soon as she was reminded that it was late therefore she should be tired she felt it.

“Why doesn’t she stay here tonight?” Steven suggested. “It’s a bit late to go walking though LittleHomeworld. Some gems sleep.”

So Spring settled down there for the night, wrapped in blanket upon blanket. She had Peridot and Lapis on one side of her and Pearl on the other (was she gonna stare at her all night?) and the others went off to do their own things. 

Oh. Life was looking up for Spring.


	14. Moving in!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring moves in with Lapis and Peridot. Of course they are good parents and spend what’s left of the the day watching their favourite TV show, CPH!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⛺️🌲💕 (Camp Pining Hearts)
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! We have a tiny bit in Amber’s perspective and then back to Spring. I’ve tried to keep them in character, I hope I did ok! I love Lapis and Peridot and am glad they get a chance to raise a human. So far they don’t really know what they are doing...

Life was not looking good for Amber. That _idiot_ human hadn’t told her where Spring was hiding out! She’d even reminded him using texting and phone calls. Why did they want _Spring_ anyway? If it weren’t for one small detail she wouldn’t want Spring either.

And that small detail was their fusion. Ocean had given up their _beautiful powerful bond_ to spend time and then _loose her life_ to humans! **Humans**! Humans were icky and organic. They had to eat food, drink liquid (like the stuff from the ocean where _fish lived_!), dripped _different_ liquid when they are hurt, didn’t poof, lives on earth. Amber could go on and on! It was ridiculous! And what was their obsession with their primitive technology? They couldn’t teleport, summon weapons, create communication devices that didn’t brake after being stomped on in rage, go without shutting off for a few hours... they were so _weak_. And that was why she fused with Spring.

Sure, she was giving _herself_ power, but she was also doing Spring a favour! Spring would _never_ live up to Ocean. But Amber could help her to at least try. And Spring deserved any rough treatment or mean words that came her way, after all she’d killed Ocean! Killed their fusion. Being Sunset-Lazuli was different with the human.

As Sunset-Lazuli they were stronger, faster, taller. The ways it different than it had been with Ocean? For one she had to fight every step of the way, pushing and pulling themselves places. Spring didn’t like to fuse and could be quite a baby about it all. 

She also had less powers, but surely it was a matter of time until that child learnt how to control it. She was such a clod! All you had to do was just... move the water! It wasn’t hard! But it was like it was locked in her gem or something? 

Ocean had had much better powers than just wings and moving water. 

Amber wondered if Spring would be the same. That would make fusing with her even more worth it.

...

“Wow! This place is amazing!” Spring, refreshed by her night’s sleep, was so excited to move in with Lapis and Peridot that she was almost literally bouncing off of the walls. It _was_ a lot like a barn, Spring could see why they called it their ‘Studio Barn’. It had a kitchen too, though neither gem was particularly interested in eating. 

“Lapis will clean up the kitchen for us with her water powers!” Peridot exclaimed.

“No.” Lapis smiled quietly.

“Aw!” Peridot lowered her shades and looked hopefully at Lapis.

“You messed it up when you invited Amethyst over!” 

Spring peered at the kitchen. It was mostly wooden, small and messy. There were paint pallets littering the sink along with cups of water and a few disregarded plates. Their were a few packets of snacks scattered about as well. Nothing a quick Spring cleaning wouldn’t fix! They didn’t have a fridge but Spring didn’t missing out on mind chilled food. She was just so happy to move in! 

(The young girl couldn’t help but feel a slight bit guilty about it all; she was taking their valuable space and time too... but for now she could push such thoughts away and double check they wanted her to stay later. It would be harder to say they wanted her to go then, right?)

The lounging area was just a sofa surrounded by different art, known by the gems as Morps. Peridot described it as music that you look at. To be honest Spring hadn’t heard much music but she did like art a lot, perhaps in the future she could help Peridot and Lapis with their art? She could paint pictures and make sculptures and maybe join in on their art classes, it’d be rather fun!

Oh, and it had a slightly old TV with several piles of tapes on top with the words ‘CPH’ scrawled on them. It seemed that it was some kind of TV show, as they had series and some had episode numbers on them as well. There were a lot of series. A **_lot_**! The top one looked newer, the writing was clearer and in a different, slightly messier handwriting style. It was entitled ‘reboot’. 

“What’s that?” She asked, pointing at the mountain of tapes.

“Only the best classic teen romance drama... EVER made!” Peridot proclaimed, clapping a bit. Her face then darkened as if something tragic had happened. “Unfortunately... THEY COMPLETELY MESSED UP THE REBOOT!” The green gem with triangle hair stopped clapping and dancing about and angrily shook her fist. Clearly this was something she felt strongly about. Then her whole demeanour changed _again_ and she began jumping about even more than before. “Oh! Oh oh oh!!” She practically leapt onto Spring, causing her to drop her deep blue hoodie. “Lapis! She hasn’t watched CPH! We can show her it! It will be magical, like when I first watched it!”

“Didn’t you watch it for like 78 hours straight when Steven showed you it?” Lapis smiled mischievously. Spring blinked. _78 hours_? Most TV show episodes were about 10/20 minutes long, at least as far as Spring could remember. (She didn’t get to watch much, if any, TV usually, though the BnB has a few televisions for guests). That would mean she’d watched... Ugh maths wasn’t Spring’s subject of choice. 

“And that was only one episode! You are gonna LOVE it!” Spring wondered if they were overstating it a bit, but then Peridot got out a flag and popcorn (apparently they liked eating a bit then) for them to start a marathon right away.

“Don’t I need to go to LittleHomeschool today?” She didn’t want to get in trouble. Spring had already kept them up half the night!

“Nah! You just moved house! Besides, it’s Saturday, humans have the weekends off, some gems do to! Come on!” It was cosy, sitting squashed on the couch between Lapis and Peridot, munching on popcorn (oh it was so nice! Buttery and salty, soft and crunchy... a delicious oxymoron of food. Why hadn’t she ever eaten it before? Perhaps the fact she hadn’t eaten breakfast or anything yet and it was now lunchtime also enhanced the taste... oops. Popcorn was now her favourite breakfast food apparently)

They managed to watch the entire first season, and Spring was hooked already. Peridot found it hard to contain her excitement, nearly leading to a few spoilers. “If you liked that then you’ll love it when Percy-“ and Lapis would splash her with water to shut her up. Poor Peridot was sopping before the 20th episode mark; 3 and a bit hours into the marathon (ahh, they were such good parents already....) and her triangular hair was almost flattened.  
On the plus side she wouldn’t have to shower.

On the down side gems didn’t need to shower anyway.

“Hey... guys?” The final episode of the first season ended with the credits, playing a tune Spring was now very familiar with, she could recite the lyrics almost word perfectly. Maybe she did like music?

Spring shifted uncomfortably, removing her legs from their position curled up in front of her. She liked to hug them when she sat down, not just for warmth but also because she liked the sensation in her arms. She’d always secretly longed to have a teddy to cuddle at night like some children who visited did but perhaps that was too much to ask, especially after just moving in.  
Usually Spring wasn’t able to sit down for this long without jumping up or moving at least a bit and her leg ached with pins and needles. Camp Pining Hearts was excellent though, and she’d been paralysed to the spot, not wanting to miss a moment of the colour wars.  
the credits came to an end. “Um... do you mind me... ya know... living with you?” Spring aimed to sound conversational, but her voice quivered a bit. 

Did they want her? She wasn’t fusing with them or helping them in any way, just watching television. She’d never be as powerful as Lapis, let alone her Mom. How long until they realised that and started being mean? A day? A week? Right now? Oh no... had she just reminded them not to have her there?

Lapis pulled her eyes away from the TV and peered at the girl squished beside her, eyes narrowed. It felt, to Spring, like she was peering into the hybrid’s very soul, reading her every paranoid thought.

“We want you here.” She sounded very determined. Perhaps she’d had experience with running away or something. 

“Yeh! It’s been lonely since... Pumpkin died.” Peridot’s lip quivered. Her barn mate patted her on the shoulder over Spring’s head, only _slightly_ uncomfortably. 

“Who was Pumpkin?” A dog? Another gem? Could gems even die?

“Our pumpkin!” Peridot explained unhelpfully. Did she mean the vegetable that people put in pies? “Steven bought him to life with his spit.”

“What!?” His spit could heal but now it could bring things to life? It had bought Lion _back_ to life, sure, but _now_ could bring previously inanimate objects to life? Why was she only now hearing of this?

“Mhm! He’s not really allowed to do that anymore though.” Lapis explained.

“Now that he’s in a better mental state I bet that he could! His powers are tied to his emotions.”

“I bet yours are too.” Lapis realised, looking at Spring. They’d already almost come to that conclusion before, but now they knew who she really was it would be easier to figure out how her powers worked. Hopefully. “Tomorrow we can train again.”

“Yes please!”

“‘For now we should get you dinner and a bed. Maybe one of us could sleep on the couch tonight...”

“Is it that late? I’ll sleep on the couch!” The hybrid jumped up and got to work clearing up the rubbish they’d accumulated (after readjusting to standing when she was so used to sitting now). Just as they were deciding what to make for dinner (call in a ‘fish stew pizza’ or order chips?) there was this weird sound and a sparkling light. An all too familiar figure appeared atop the kitchen table from seemingly nowhere.

“Ahhhhhh!” Screamed Spring, unable to mask her complete shock at what... or rather _who_ was standing in front of her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger! Who do you think it is?


	15. A Lapis in training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring begins to train with Lapis who has... some interesting ideas on how to train a hybrid to fly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry I haven’t updated this fic in awhile. I was kind of getting into one of my other ones, but I finally have a clear plot line written out (rather than just in my head) for this story and I’ve gotten back into it. I plan to update it more regularly too!  
> This is kind of a calmer chapter? Hope you enjoy.

“Lion!” Spring grinned widely. The giant pink cat yawned and hoped off the table, sprawling on the floor. “Look! He came to find me!!” Spring wrapped her arms around the lion, giggling as he licked her hand. “He remembered me! Ahhh! So cute!” All thoughts of dinner escaped from her mind, instead she focused on Lion as he happily acted like a kitten.

“I... I’ve never seen him do that before.” Peridot observed, removing her hands from her ears. She was going to have to get used to Spring squealing, apparently. Didn’t she know that hurt some people’s ears? Peridot wouldn’t ever do that.  
(Unless CPH was involved).

“He’s acting like Cat-Steven.” it was true, he usually wasn’t nearly so affectionate. He’d show affection to Steven, the pink Space-pirate human and especially Connie, but Lion was truly more of a loner. It was quite sweet. He ended up curling up on the couch with Spring, squashing her feet uncomfortably. It was completely worth the pins and needles though.

...

“Ok, so Garnet said you activated your wings, right?” Lapis questioned. They were on the beach, the optimal place for water based training. They weren’t too far from the temple actually. Lion had finally left Spring alone around 10 that morning, his stomach kept growling. He seemed to want to go eat... whatever pink lion’s ate? Sadly he wasn’t too interested in her bowl of soggy cereal.  
(She wondered that, if Peridot and Lapis really _did_ want her there, that they’d _possibly_ consider let her get a pet cat? They obviously missed Pumpkin. Plus she could imagine that Lion and the kitten could be best friends! Maybe if she was still there in a month or so she could try ask.)

Regrettably Spring had had to put her long curly mint blue hair up in a scraggly ponytail (she hadn’t much practice as she tended to keep it down). Lapis had rightly figured it would get in the way of her wings, should she be able to use them.

“I don’t know how I did it....“ To be honest she could barely remember having them, she was just so panicked at being cornered. “I’d love to try though!” She smiled hopefully. 

“Maybe we need to try from somewhere higher up... ah! Up there!” She scooped the small hybrid up and flew her to the top of the lighthouse. It was rarely used now, unless that young Fryman still came up. Ronaldo, was it? “Ok, so jump.”

...

“Wait... W-what?” Spring wasn’t sure she heard Lapis right. Jump _off_ the lighthouse? She wasn’t afraid of heights, not particularly, but she hated the idea of jumping off. Especially if she couldn’t use her wings. 

What if she couldn’t use her wings? 

What if she failed and fell down, down, down, onto the grass, or the roof of Greg’s house or into the sea?

“Jump. If you don’t use your wings I can catch you.” Lapis nodded at her to continue, brimming with a strange but calm level of confidence.

“Umm...” Spring but her lip uncertainly. Should she refuse?  
But she couldn’t refuse, Lapis was in charge of her now. She _had_ to do what she said, right?

Ok... ok... 

But it was _so_ dangerous.

She couldn’t refuse Lapis though... she said she would catch her anyway...

Ok... ok....

“What are you doing?!” Pearl cried suddenly from underneath them. (Oh thank the stars, she needed another minute to prepare herself for this.) She and a large greyish-purple gem with rainbow hair had appeared underneath them. Spring was sure she’d seen the gem around little homeworld, but she hadn’t been formally introduced yet. She also loved her hair. Most gems appeared to only have one colour in theirs. Was it dyed, or natural, like Spring’s own hair?

“Training her to use her wings. What are _you_ doing?” Lapis raised her eyebrows and gave a small smile. If they could see Pearl closely they would have caught her blush a bright blue and Bismuth rub her hair with her hand.

They were totally _not_ skipping lessons ‘Amethyst style’ to hang out together. _Of course_ not. Pearl wouldn’t dream of it. (Well, she might if she actually slept.)

Pearl decided to ignore Lapis’s question.

“Are you _crazy_? She’s a human. A **human**! She’s too fragile to jump from such a height!” 

Lapis just shrugged. “And?”

“And _she might fall and get hurt_!” Pearl shouted.

”Then she’d poof.” Lapis shrugged.

”She’s. **Human**.” Panicked Pearl. Bismuth stood awkwardly, not sure if she should join in the argument. Humans didn’t have blue hair, so how could this be a human? If she was a gem then she’d be fine to jump down, right? Wait... couldn’t humans dye their hair?

Spring was conflicted. Should she follow Lapis’s direct order or Pearl’s sensible caution? She hated arguments. She hated being shouted at. She hated feeling trapped on this ledge, even if it was with someone she trusted. Spring needed to escape, she needed to run away, but she couldn’t run, Lapis was in front of the door. She couldn’t go out... Instead she could go... up...

A funny tingling came from her gem, before it shined on her wrist. Then there was a light whoosh, almost like a splash. 

Spring craned her neck around.

Wings! She had wings again! They flapped up and down at her every command, as easily as she could wave her hand. It was like they were part of her, something that just _should_ be there. Like they shouldn’t be questioned. 

They were tinted a light pink, though still slightly see through, as water usually is. They looked like Spring had thrown a glass of water and then somehow frozen them in place, a few drops glistened off the sides here and there.

Spring didn’t wait to leap into the air, testing them out. Unfortunately she was _very_ shaky, managing to get halfway down before the wings slithered back into her... back? (weird, as her gem was on her wrist, but Spring decided not to question it.) Thankful the large gem caught her 

“Woo there, be careful little meatball.” The gem put her onto her feet, patting her head. 

Meatball? Was that supposed to be a compliment or....?

“You did it! Lapis? Did you see that?” Pearl waved to Lapis who excitedly flapped her own wings and joined them.

“Good job! This is Bismuth, by the way.” The grey gem, Bismuth, waved jovially. “Bismuth, did we tell you about Spring? She’s a half human, like Steven!” 

“Well I’ll be! How haven’t I seen you around before?”

“I was p-pretending to be a Lapis...” Spring blushed. 

What a way to introduce yourself. First, fall from the sky almost crushing them, then tell them that you’re a liar.

“You mean you’re Freckles?!” Bismuth seemed incredibly surprised by this. “I thought she was picked up off a planet in space.”

“N-No! I’ve only been here like a month.” Spring explained. Ugh, she was so nervous to meet a new gem that she was back to stuttering.

“Oh, I think you’d like her!” Lapis smiled. “Do you like dancing?” To be honest Spring hadn’t tried it before, but she’d try anything once. If Lapis wanted her to, anyway. 

“You should also meet Pink Pearl, she goes to Peridots gardening class.”

“I think she’d like Spinel, they’re both quiet bubbly!” Pearl added happily. “She’s in space though.”

Spring wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of going to space or not. What if there wasn’t oxygen? Did gems even breath? Would they take the warp pad there, or would they have to take a spaceship?

“I-I-I’m not sure about g-going to space. I’d love to meet this Pearl and other Lapis though. I’ve seen her but I mostly s-stayed in my room before now.” She admitted. 

“Can you fly there?” Lapis challenged.

“I-“ could she? Wings, wings, wings... “N-No, s-s-Sorry.” 

“Why don’t you walk back with Bismuth and I? We need to head back anyway.” 

Spring looked at Lapis to see if she approved.

“Sure. See you soon Spring!” And she was off. Wow. Lapis was _so_ nice, she just let Spring do whatever. She could watch TV, she could pet Lion all night long _and_ she could walk home with Pearl and Bismuth (oh _HOME_. She had a home, not just a house!) Then she could go meet this ‘Freckles’! This was going to be so fun.

If only she knew the disastrous events still to come...


	16. Freckles and Volleyball.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring talks to Volleyball and Freckles, then takes and impromptu trip to space.

“This is Freckles!” Lapis explained. The Lapis in front of her was blue, with little freckles dotting her face. She had the longest hair Spring had seen on a Lapis but it was pulled still into a ponytail. Maybe Spring should cut her long hair to fit in? It was the gem Spring had copied her ‘Lapis’ form from. She was quite sweet, and loved to dance, this was especially apparent because they’d pulled her away from a dancing lesson run by one of the town‘s folk. 

“Hello!” She smiled at Pearl and Spring, the latter of which waved shyly. Then she noticed the gem on her wrist. “Oh! You’re a Lapis, like me! Only... Pink? Where were you formed?” This question stumped Spring. She had no idea where her mother was formed. On earth, perhaps? That had been _Pink_ Diamond’s colony, from what she understood. 

“I don’t know.” She answered truthfully. 

“Well, it wouldn’t have been where I was formed, I’d remember a Pink Lapis! I was made here on good old Earth.” 

“I wasn’t aware that any Lapis’s had been formed on Earth! But no, Spring is a hybrid, like Steven.” Pearl proudly declared, pointing at her very human face. 

“A pink Lapis?” A pearl wearing dark human shades suddenly walked up to them from the group. You couldn’t see her eyes, but she looked very happy. “Eek! It’s so nice to see you again! You look different. Did you change do something to your hair?” She wrapped Spring in a big hug, as if she were a gem she saw everyday. And gems weren’t too quick to show affection like that, unless they’d been influenced by humans.

“W-What?” 

“Volleyball, Spring is a hybrid, half human. Like Steven.” Pearl repeated. She was acting slightly more uptight than before. Was she... somehow jealous of this Pink Pearl? Why? Did she like the colour?

“Oh, what a misunderstanding. Do you not remember me?”

“No?”

“What about Pink?” Pink... pink Diamond. Wasn’t that Steven’s mom? The one who he didn’t like? “Oh, you were practically her best friend! Other than me and Spinel, of course. Until... well... yes.” She blushed, and put her hands to her mouth. She was blinking rapidly, not that they could tell, due to her shades.

“‘Well yes’ What?” Pearl was suddenly super interested. Spring wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was intrested too.

Her Mom had known Pink Diamond? Hadn’t Amber said that Spring’s mum was too powerful or something, and had been banished to be experimented on? Though the story seemed to change a little every time, Amber. Could’ve been lying.

“I-“ again Volleyball’s hands went to her mouth.

“You don’t have t-to tell me!” Spring didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Oh no, now she’d dislike her already. She wished deeply that she was back with Lapis or Peridot.

“No, Spring. It’s a gag order. Rose gave one to me too. She cannot say whatever it is she wants to say.” Explained Pearl sympathetically, her air of jealousy gone in an instant. 

“If you want to know ask Spinel.” Pink Pearl (or was it Volleyball?) whispered, before returning to the dance class. 

“Ohh, are you going to space? I’ll come with you, I haven’t been since I stopped terraforming!” Freckles exclaimed happily. To be honest, Pearl has forgotten she was there.

“What’s ‘terraforming’?”

“Using water to level planets, destroying the natural ecosystem!” She smiled brightly.

“What?”

“Oh, don’t worry Spring, that’s just what Lapis Lazuli's were made for originally, they don’t do it anymore!” Pearl quickly added, shooting Freckles a look. She wasn’t sure if Spring knew so much about the darker past of gems. She needn’t grow to dislike her gem half like Steven had, especially before she’d had a good chance to see the good, newer side of gems.

Spring processed this information. That’s what she was made for? Who knew that water could be used like that? It sounded so horrible. (And a little invigorating, to be honest. But she buried that thought deep inside her mind. Terraforming killed animals and plants by the sound of it. She didn’t like that idea. Especially the bit about animals.)

So they took the main warp pad from earth to ‘Homeworld’. It was gigantic. There was plants and colours everywhere, like this was just a larger space themed version of her home. It didn’t take long to find Spinel, who apparently knew Volleyball well. Spring was glad she’d taken her, along with Freckles. Pearl had lessons to teach which she couldn’t skip but left strict instructions to tell her exactly what happened afterwards.

“Hiya, nice to meet you!” Spinel had tears down her face, as if she was crying while wearing mascara. Did gems wear makeup? She extended her hand, stretching it to reach out for a handshake. “You just missed seeing Steven he’s-oh! **Steven**!” The hybrid himself was standing on the warp pad, clearly just about to leave. He grinned when he saw Spring, and Volleyball. Freckles had gone off to do... something?

“Hey!” He waved.

“W-why are you in space?” Spring blushed. Did that sound rude? “S-Sorry.”

“No, no, no, it’s fine! I was hanging out with my friend Lars, he’s kinda a space pirate? And thought I’d drop by and see Spinel. Wanna talk or something?” 

“N-no we wanted to ask Spinel something.” Steven got back on the warp pad. “Because Volleyball can’t tell us.”

“What?” Steven got back off the warp pad immediately, going right up to the little group. “Why can’t she?” (Please don’t say gag order, please don’t say gag order...)

“P-Pearl said something about a gag order?” Oh she said it.

“Stevie, are you ok?” Spinel asked, noting his pink cheeks.

“I will be, I just wanna know what happened.” He thought he was over this. What had Pink done this time? Something else he’d have to fix-nononono... it want his job. Breathe in and out. Ok. “What did you want to ask?” 

“A-apparently my Mom, Ocean, knew Pink Diamond?” Spinel suddenly beamed, wrapping her spring arms around Spring.

“Ocean?! I should have known! Show me your gem! Stevie, look! It’s ocean!” 

“No, she’s _not_ her mom. But... you knew her mom?”

“Of course! She was Pink’s third best friend.” Spinel usually didn’t talk about Pink, especially not with a smile on her face. She was very obviously happy to see Spring. Or at least her gem. “She always used to hang around the court, and did cool water tricks to entertain Pink! She was taken by Yellow, I thought for sure she was as good as shattered, right before she got her colony and new Pearl after.... well... yeah.” Her energy seemed to drain a bit. 

“A-after what?” 

“I wasn’t actually _there..._ but... umm... Volleyball was? Maybe she can tell you now?” Volleyball shook her head. Spinel pouted. She didn’t want to be the one to say it. Likely it would upset Steven and Spring. Maybe she should’ve told Steven about it sooner? But she’d mostly forgotten anyway, before actually seeing the gem reminded her. “maybe we should go somewhere... more private?” 

Oh dear. Spring didn’t really like the sound of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it obvious what’s happening? I don’t know....


	17. The truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes out. Steven isn’t happy, and neither is Spring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever sorry. Hope you enjoy. Also, I did a drawing of Spring. It’s not good, not by a long shot, but if anyone is interested in seeing it I’ll try add it to the next chapter?

“Sooooooo....” Spinel seemed to want to drag out saying anything, so she also prolonged every single word. Sorry, the _one_ single word.

“Spinel, I’ve gotta get back to the road, I left my car on a meter.” The fact that he didn’t technically have a driver’s license (he’d need a social security number and things for _that_ ) would probably come up if he got a ticket. “So can we hurry this up?” 

“OksoPinkDiamondgotmadandyelledandthenOcean-“

“Wait, slow down!” Steven blinked at her fast response. Sure, gems needn’t breathe but who knew they could talk so much and so fast?

“W-What did you say?” Spring repeated. This whole situation was making her nervous. They were in some kind of pink room, with a little balcony overviewing Homeworld. It was huge, and the idea that she was in space kinda freaked her out a bit.

“So Pink Diamond hurt Volleyball, ya know that, right? So... she also hurt Ocean.” 

Steven’s cheeks glowed pink. Another person she’d hurt, and then just hidden away? “Keep going.” Steven wanted her to stop, but if he didn’t hear her always wonder, always worry.

“Well... she got mad and yelled at Ocean and she held up her arm to protect her?” Spinel peered at Volleyball for confirmation. She nodded, but it was rather forced. “And it chipped her gem.”

“ _Chipped_ it?” Steven’s face was somehow pale yet pink flushed at the same time. A gem could be... chipped? He’d seen cracked, (shattered) and even scratched gems. If it were chipped would the gem die? 

“Yeh... they couldn’t find the pieces, Ocean was going to die.”

Spring looked nervously at the gem in her wrist, as if it were suddenly 10x more likely to explode, or shoot lasers or crack into a thousand pieces.

What would happen to Spring if she didn’t have her gem?

“Umm... can Volleyball go now?”

“Yes, of course.” She smiled happily, dismissing the tension in the air. “But your mother Steven, Pink Diamond, cried tears of grief as she was going to shatter. Somehow it healed her gem, replacing the blue with pink. It altered her form’s colour too!”

Spring took a step back. So she wasn’t an off-color’, she was injured? And... she was like Lion, that’s why he loved her, why they had a connection?

Pink Pearl was smiling happily. 

Steven’s face had turned white as a sheet. No, as pink as... Pink?

“No.” He feigned a smile when Spring tried to say sorry. “It’s fine it’s not your fault.” He choked out. It wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t her fault.

It was Pink’s. She _never_ ran out of secrets and lies and betrayal. 

What had happened to Ocean when Pink just left?

He couldn’t help but suddenly feel a burning anger towards Spring. If only she hadn’t come, if only she wasn’t another one of his mom’s mistakes.

Suddenly he noticed Spring was cowering on the floor, Spinel was trying to calm him down, he was Pink from head to toe and Volleyball had left?

Oh dear. Had he said that, about wishing Spring wasn’t here and her being one of his Mom’s mistakes?

“Steven, it’s ok.” Spinel squeezed his hand. Breathe. 1, 2, 3, 4, breathe.... the pink fainted after a minute or so. 

All that time Spring just seemed to shrink further and further into her big jumper. 

This was her fault. He was panicking. Why did she come to Homeworld anyway? What about _Little Homeworld_? 

Amber.

Steven was right. Spring knew she was a mistake. Everyone seemed to know though. Why couldn’t she be strong like she was supposed to be?

“I-I-I’m s-s-Sorry. I-I’ll go.” Steven didn’t have time to call out before Spring had disappeared and running out the door and checking both hallways left him none the wiser. 

“Spring! Spinel, what did I say?” He knew the answer but-

“It doesn’t matter, Stevie. You were upset. You need to apologise to Spring though, if you can find her.” Right. First, find Spring. She didn’t know how to fly properly or use the warp pad, right? So she shouldn’t be too hard to find. Hopefully.

Away... away... away... Spring furiously thought the words again and again, the warp pad ignored her. 

Maybe she had to have a specific pad in mind? Do something with her hands? 

Please. Just somewhere _not_ earth, _not_ Homeworld, _not_ anywhere she’d been before. Maybe somewhere her mom had been? A different planet, a-

The pad chimed and suddenly Spring wasn’t on Homeworld anymore. Or even earth. It was a beautiful forest, strange little... Onions? Peered at her from the ground. Lush forest. Pink and Blue. Like Spring. 

She ran furiously.

Forward, to the corner of the cliff that was apparently there. The land had just been cut off, crumbling lightly when Spring stepped too close. 

Was this... terraforming? Wait, was that a flash of Blue. Another Lapis? Out here?


	18. Fragments, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hmm.... this chapter seems familiar... almost like Fragments?
> 
> This is kind of like the start of the fragments, but Spring’s version? Hopefully with better results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this chapter out, and it’s not too long! Some things happened in my family a few days ago, but it’s mostly ok now!   
> I know not too many people read this compared to my other fics but I’m still really enjoying writing it!   
> Hope that you enjoy!  
> Also I couldn’t currently figure out how to add a photo. Sorry! I’ll see if I can get it one day! For now I’m no where near tech savvy enough.

Spring flew unsteadily down towards the ground, marvelling at he clean cuts made on the earth. Though it was obviously a bad thing to do, Spring couldn’t help but be impressed by the symmetry. It was like Lapis and Peridot’s art!

“Admiring my work?” Someone asked. Spring spun around to see a Lapis Lazuli hovering effortlessly above the ground. She wore a billowing dress and her hair was styled in a neat little curly bob. Hmm... Another Lapis with short hair. Maybe Spring should try cut her’s short? If it would help with her flying it would be worth it.

“U-Um...” she couldn’t exactly say _yes_ , terraforming was _bad_ , Pearl had said so, right? 

“I’ll take that as a yes. Cool, huh. I used to terraform planets all the time.” 

“Really?” Had Spring’s mum done that? Or... was she too busy working for pink?

“Yep! But this super strong Lapis... with the dullest personality... said it was a no go. So now I just hang around here. My parter ditched me.” She added, with a hint of bitterness in her voice. 

“C-can you teach me how to do that?” 

“What, Terraform? Humans can’t.” She cackled to herself like Spring had just made a hilarious joke.

“N-No, fly.” 

“I... I guess I could? You are pretty bad at it.” She effortlessly lifted into the air, flapping her wings.

Carefully Spring let her water wings form, but her hair got in the way and she crashed onto the wet floor.

The Lapis snickered. 

“Good luck with that hair! Why don’t you just make it shorter?” Why didn’t she? Why did she even try? She shouldn’t have come to space, or little Homeworld, even Steven had said so! Why had she even come down here? She knew that she couldn’t get back up.

“I... I don’t think I can do that. I’m h-half human. Like S-Steven.” Like Steven. Poor Steven. She’d upset him so much. 

Maybe.... 

What if she could become a proper Lapis? Like Amber always said? Like Lapis was training her too? 

If she reached her full potential then Steven would see she wasn’t just one of his Mom’s mistakes!

“C-can y-you teach m-me then?” 

“Fine.” The Lapis grinned, secretly overjoyed to have a new friend to hang with. 

She couldn’t terraform, the most powerful Lapis she’d ever seen had told her not to. How could you not obey a direct display of ultimate power?

So she was bored, with noting better to do than just sit idly on this planet.

Training this amateur could be fun. 

...

“Again.”

Spring took a deep breath, trying to concentrate.

Pick up the water. 

Make a person shape.

Put it back down, _without_ spilling any.

Again and again. 

“Once more, you’ll never be a proper Lapis at _this_ rate.”

Never a proper Lapis. A mistake. Like Amber said. Like Steven said. She had to prove them wrong, or she could never go back.

...

“Now, make _this_ shape.... perfect.”

The razor sharp saw made with water cut through Spring’s long hair in a single slice. 

Suddenly inside of a long, wavy mop, she had a curly bob, which bounced happily on her shoulders. It was so light!

The sparse pink highlights seemed much larger now when she looked in her reflection.

The same colour as lion. Huh. Cool.

She produced her wings.

”Round 2”

...

“W-What now?” Spring wasn’t sure how long it had been. This planet always seemed sunny, but perhaps it was like Antarctica or something.

Blueberry, as Spring had dubbed the Lapis who was training her, was impressed.

The organic had managed to master her water controlling abilities, wings and she looked more like a Lapis now too, somehow taller, and the short hair framed her face perfectly.

She’d even lost the bulky jumper and underneath she had a flowy top. 

It was traditional that a Lapis was formed in a flowy dress, and a top was certainly the next best thing. 

“There’s nothing else. Terraforming is off limits, Diamond Steven Universe and his Lapis said.” Blueberry rolled her eyes. 

“Terraforming...” Spring thought for a moment.

She was just a mistake in Steven’s eyes, right? Well... If he didn’t want her around, so be it.

“Well, he’s not _my_ Diamond.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please leave any suggestions or comments below, I’m open for criticism (just not too much! Lol, not really.). I’ve already written the first few chapters but can make adjustments if people read this and have suggestions. If not then oh well, I’m enjoying this anyway!  
> 🙃


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